
Qass. 



Tuy 



Book__„-.HJ2i- 



Ui -J-- ■ 



NARRATIVE 

OF THE ^1^^ 

AWENTURES AND SUFFERINGS 

OF 

CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS 

AND HIS COMPANIONS, 

IN 

CANADA AND VAN DIEM AN' S LAND, 

DURING A LONG CAPTIVITY; 

WITH 

TRAVELS IN CALIFORNIA, 

AND 

VOYAGES AT SEA. 



SECOND EDITION. 



BO S T ON: 

PUBLISHED BY SILx\S W. WILDER & CO. 

1848. 



i^^^^. 



.•>;w» • • 



;f^d> 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, 

By Silas W. Wilder and Daniel D. Heustis, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



3 



^ 






r 



^ CONTENTS 



X 



Page. 

Introduction, , 7 



CHAPTER 1. 

Early Life — Residence in Roxbiiry, Massachusetts — Removal to 
Watertown, New York — Travels in Canada — Sympathy for the 
Canadian People — The Outbreak in Lower Canada — Battles of 
St Dennis, St. Charles, and St. Eustache, 15 



CHAPTER H. 

Attempted Revolution in Upper Canada — Escape of the Leaders 
to the United States — Occupation of Navy Island — Destruction 
of the Caroline — Enlistment of the Author, and Journey to Buf- 
falo — Evacuation of Navy Island — The Watertown Arsenal 
Guns — Hickory Island — General Van Rensselaer, '24 



CHAPTER in. 

Arrest of the Author — Journey to Auburn in Charge of the U. S. 
Marshal — Amusing Incident — Curiosity to see a Famous Man — 
Examination before Judge Conklin — Discharge — Examination 
of Benjamin Collins — The Witnesses — Trials in Canada — Ex- 
ecution of Lount and Mattliews 34 



CHAPTER IV. 

Organization of Patriot Lodges — Burning of the Sir Robert Peel — 
Scheme to liberate the Niagara Prisoners — Preparations for the 
Attack on Prescott — Embarkation at Sackett's Harbor — Desei- 



iv CONTENTS. 

Page. 

tion — Unsuccessful Attempt to land at Prescott — Going ashore 
at Windmill Point — Our Flag unfurled — A Naval Exploit — 
Supper at a Farm-House — Colonel Von Shoultz appointed Com- 
mander-in Chief, 41 



CHAPTER V. 

Approach of the British — Unprotected Females shot — Battle of 
Prescott — Hard Fighting — Deaths of Phillips, Brown, But- 
terfield, and Johnson — Capture of Daniel George and others — 
Wheelock and Finney wounded — A Stormy Night — Suffer- 
ings of the Wounded — The Dead on the Field of Battle — A 
Visit from Ogdensburgh — Attempt to remove the Wounded — 
An Escape — Armistice for burying the Dead — The Enemy 
reinforced — Their Compliments returned — Interference of U. S 
Officers — The Surrender, 47 



CHAPTER VI. 

The March to Prescott — Tortures of the Wounded — The Passage 
to Kingston — Confinement in Fort Henry — The Names, Age, 
and Residence of the Heroes of Prescott — List of the Killed and 
Wounded — Loss of the Enemy — Money sent to the Prisoners 
by their Friends — Filthy Bread — Robbery — Style of Living — 
A Christmas Present — Trial and Execution of Von Shoultz — 
Incidents in his Romantic Career, 59 



CHAPTER Vn. 

The Reign of Terror — Execution of several Prisoners — Com- 
ments of the Democratic Review on these hideous Murders — 
The Author's Trial — Anecdote of " Old Hicks"— -Character of 
Sheriff McDonald — His Profanity — Uncommon Vigilance to 
prevent our Escape — Visits from our Friends — Private Money 
smuggled into the Prison — Six Breakfasts eaten by one Man — 
Pardon of a Portion of the Prisoners — Mrs. Skinner's Effort in 
my Behalf — A Visit from the Governor — Celebration of the 
Fourth of July in Prison, 72 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Removal from Fort Henry to Quebec — Embarkation on board the 
Ship Buffalo — An Account of the Battle of Windsor — Descrip- 
tion of the Buffalo — Division of the Prisoners into Messes — Our 
Manner of Living — A Storm — Scheme to capture the Ship — 



CONTENTS. V 

Page. 



Death of Asa Priest — A Funeral at Sea — Arrival at Rio 
Janeiro — Yankee Seamanship — A Flogging — Doubling the 
Cape — Van Dieman's Land, 82 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Disembarkation — A Speech from the Governor — Change of 
Clotlies — Work on the Road — The Rations — Death and Burial 
of McLeod — Fruitless Endeavors to find his Grave — Lines by 
L. W. Miller— Deaths of McNulty, Van Camp, Curtis, Nottage, 
and Williams — An Attempt to escape, by Reynolds, Paddock, 
Cooley, and Murray — Their Capture and Sentence to Port Ar- 
thur — Interesting Incident — Sufferings of the Prisoners, 99 



CHAPTER X. 

Lovely Banks — Robbery in Bagdad Jail — Horrid Sufferings — A 
Scheme to obtain Liberty — Miller and Stewart sent to Port Ar- 
thur — Our Removal to Green Ponds — Atchison, the Negro 
Driver — Dishonest Superintendents — The Bridgewater Sta- 
tion — Dispersion of our Party — The Author and twenty-one 
others sent to Brown's River — Cruel Floggings — Criminality 
of eating a Sheep's Head — Captain Jones, 108 



CHAPTER XL 

Our partial Emancipation — Journey into the Interior — The Good 
Woman's Inn — Lodgings by the Wayside — Mona Vale — Mr. 
Kermode's Farm — Agreement to cultivate it on Shares — Death 
and Burial of Alson Owen, at Rothbury — Celebration of the 
Fourth of July — A successful Experiment in cradling Wheat,. . 117 



CHAPTER XIL 

The Author visited by his Brother — Hunting Bush-Rangers — 
Dresser and Wright pardoned — The new Governor — His Opin- 
ion of the Legality of our Imprisonment — A Petition for our 
Pardon — Another unsuccessful Attempt to Abscond — Trial be- 
fore a Magistrate — Cheating the Laborer of his Wages — The 
Pardon — Captain Skinner, of the Phoenix, 123 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Adieu to Van Dieman's Land — The Whale-Ship Steiglitz — The 
Boston Atlas Extra — Death of a Sailor — A Ship in Distress — 



Vi CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Killing Whales — Dinner with a King at the Society Islands — 
Arrival at Honolulu — Kind Reception — Departure for Califor- 
nia — Arrival at Monterey, 131 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Preparations to cross the Rocky Mountains — Commenceraent of 
the Journey — Incidents on the Route — Arrival at Neuva Hel- 
vetia — Captain Sutter — Further Travels — Sickness of tlie 
Guide — Abandonment of the Expedition — Extensive Travels 
in California — Description of the Country — Its Agricultural and 
Commercial Advantages — Voyage to Valparaiso — Return Home 
in the Ship Edward Everett 142 



CHAPTER XV. 

The English Criminal Code — Establishment of Penal Colonies — 
Settlement of Van Dieman's Land — Description of the Country — 
Extermination of the Natives — Cruelty of Sir George Arthur — 
Ruthless Policy of England — Chartists in Exile — Interesting 
Letter from the Honorable Edward Everett, 154 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Present Condition of Canada — Sir Francis Bond Head's " Emi- 
grant " — Disaffection of the Loyalists — Appointment of Patriots 
to Office — Inconsistency manifested by the Government in these 
Appointments — Concluding Reflections, 164 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE CANADIAN MOVEMENT. 



BY BENJ. KINGSBURY; JR. 

The true history of this movement is yet to be written ; and, when 
written, it will be a triumphant vindication of the patriotic spirits en- 
gaged in it. Justice may move slowly, but it is certam. 

The policy of the British government toward its colonies is well 
known. It is, and ever has been, to get as much out of them as possible, 
at the smallest cost. 

This policy has been steadily pursued ever since the infamous and 
cowardly treaty of Paris, in 1763. The people have been peeled, 
crushed, deprived of nearly every right, fined, taxed, imprisoned, until, 
from men, they have been reduced almost to the level of things. 

We lack space — neither is it in unison -^vith the design of this work — 
to enter into minute detail relative to the past history of the Canadas. 
A rough outline must suffice. 

When New France was made over to England, the bulk of the 
population was of Trench descent, and so continues, although the im- 
migration of Anglo-Saxons has reduced the proportional majority. It 
would seem that toward this important class true policy would have 
dictated conciliation; but the Court of St. .Tames thought otherwise. 
Their rights of property have been violated, and, until very recently, 
they have been excluded from every place of honor or emolument. 
This proscription, together with a succeb^ion of unremitting exactions 
and petty oppressions, has kept them in a state of semi-revolt. Like 
gunpowder, the spark was but wanting to cause an explosion. 

But tyranny stopped not with this insulted class. The iron hand has 
been laid upon the whole people. The British government threw a « tub 



8 



INTRODUCTION. 



to the whale " in 1791, by dividing the Province of Quebec into Upper 
and Lower Canada, and giving a constitution for the government of each : 
a constitution which Gov. Simcoe, the first executive of Upper Canada, 
in his opening speech, pronounced "the very image and transcript 
of that of England." Practically, the "image" proved to be a mere 
charcoal caricature. Notoriously bad as is the structure of tlie British 
constitution, this was found, in its working, to be infinitely worse. 
Those who made the constitution neutralized the whole, by providing 
that the Legislative Council should be appointed hy the Executive, and 
that this irresponsible body should have a veto on the bills passed by the 
People's House. This power was exercised to the utmost The most 
beneficial acts of the popular branch were almost invariably reject- 
ed ; especially those which were calculated to elevate the masses, give 
character to the country, throw open to enterprise her uncultivated 
soil and afiluent streams, and extend her trade. Bills for general com- 
mon school education ; for encouraging emigrants of capital to settie ; 
for securing the purity of trial by jury, by an impartial selection of jury- 
men ; for abolishing the feudal law of primogeniture ; for regulating the 
mode of elections, so as to protect tlie rights of citizens ; for reforming 
the overgrown salaries of officials ; for exempting Quakers and other 
religionists from bearing arms, and from militia fines in time of peace ; 
and scores of others, of like character, were scornfully thrown under the 
table, after they had been matured by the lower house in accordance 
with " the will of the people," 

Let us look a moment at the cost of thus misgoverning the Canadas, 
at the time of the outbreak. Lord Gosford had $44,000 a year, for 
oppressing the 600,000 people of Lower Canada, and Sir Francis Head 
had $22,000, for taking the same kind care of the 300,000 people 
of Upper Canada. The salary of the Attorney-General of Upper Cana- 
da was $4,800 ; that of the Solicitor-General $3,000 ; that of the Chief 
Justice about $8,000, and each of the five Judges $4,400. The Gover- 
nor's Secretary had a handsome salary, with an addition of six dollars 
for every marriage license. The Postmaster-General of the Provinces, 
who, with the above-named functionaries, was appointed by tlie home 
government, received an enormous annual income from salary and 
perquisites. The above must suffice as specimens of the innumerable 
host of foreign leeches that were sucking the life-blood of the colonies. 
" Their name is legion." 

During the three or four years preceding the insurrection, the Assem- 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

bly of the Lower Province refused to raise the money for official salaries, 
because many of the recipients were pluralists, holding offices inconsist- 
ent with each other, and because they had all uniformly opposed every 
effi^rt of the people for redress. The British Parliament, however, " cut 
the gordian knot," by passing a resolution, taking seven hundred and 
sixty thousand dollars out of the provincial treasury, to pay these mer- 
cenary hirelings ; and this in defiance of the strenuous opposition 
of O'Connell, Brougham, and even the Duke of Wellington. Of this 
outrage the Westminster Review spoke thus : — 

" The House of Assembly, unable to procure the redress of certain 
grievances, has for some tjme refused to vote the supplies. The whig 
administration has thereupon proposed to the House of Commons certain 
resolutions, to the effect that the grievances of the Canadians shall not be 
redressed, and that the Governor of the Province shall be authorized to 
appropriate the public moneys witliout the consent of the House of As- 
sembly. This proceeding is in direct violation of the constitution 
of Lower Canada, as settled by the act of the 31st George III. c. 31. 
This act of the whigs is founded upon the expectation that the people 
are too. feeble to resist." 

The over-laden back will either break or endeavor to cast off its load. 
It was so with the Canadians. They had submitted to official insolence, 
to foreign domination, to excessive taxation, to unequal and oppressive 
duties, to restriction of trade, until submission, instead of being a virtue, 
became cowardice. The living thousands were at last aroused. The 
death-sleep had passed off. But they did not, even then, resolve upon 
adopting the dernier resort. They remonstrated, as they had often done 
before, earnestly, eloquently, indignantly. They laid a complete and 
unanswerable statement of facts at the foot of the throne. It was 
spurned. They tried another course. At the suggestion of Papineau, 
they formed a commercial league against the mother country. The 
French Canadians bound themselves by oath to use exclusively home 
products, or those of the United States. This brought matters to a 
crisis. They had at last touched the most sensitive nerve of the " nation 
of shopkeepers " — the pocket. 

The Canadians have been censured for rushing precipitately into 
rebellion, so totally unprepared as the result proved them to be. They, 
had an avalanche of numbers, but they lacked organization, discipline, 
arms, ammunition, and money. How, it is very properly asked, 
coUid they have expected to resist successfully the drilled soldiery 
1* 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

of Great Britain ? To this we reply — they were forced into the measure 
by the government, against their will and judgment. They had by no 
means exhausted the peaceful resources at their command. This matter 
is briefly but fully explained by M. Papineau, in an historical work, 
quoted by M. Regnault, in his " Criminal History of the British Govern- 
ment." M Papineau says : — 

" I challenge the English government to deny, when I affirm, that none 
of us were prepared for, expected, wished, or even anticipated an armed 
resistance. But the English government had resolved to rob the province 
of its revenue and its representative system ; it had resolved to devote 
some of us to death, and others to exile ; it was for this that martial law 
was proclaimed, and the citizens were tried by court-martial for acts 
which it was decided, some weeks before, formed no ground for accusa- 
tion ; founding the necessity of creating military tribunals on the im- 
possibility of obtaining sentence of death from the civil tribunals. Yes, 
once more the executive power, having in view the interests of the 
metropolis, formed inhuman combinations against innocent men, which 
had been admitted to be illegal ; the provocation came from it, but the 
insurrection was not lawful. We had resolved not yet to rebel. This has 
been proved to the government by our papers, which have been seized , 
a government which calumniates, in order to become persecutors." 

This is the testimony of a man of imunpeachable character, and the 
acknowledged leader of the masses of Lower Canada. He was em- 
phatically the O'CoNNELL of his country. 

The facts corroborate his evidence. While the people were confining 
their action strictly within constitutional limits, Papineau was accused 
of treason, but escaped to France ; and leading Patriots, in and out 
of Montreal, were arrested and imprisoned. Collision with the populace 
was provoked by the British soldiery, at the instigation of the gov- 
ernment, and THE INSURRECTION COMMENCED. 

We need not relate the particulars of that disastrous struggle. They 
are too fresh to be forgotten. But if ever a people were justified in 
appealmg to the last argument, the Canadians were so, before God and 
man. Wrongs were perpetrated upon them at which the Czar of Rus- 
sia would blush ; and he who would condemn tJiem, must, with thrice 
the emphasis, condemn the American revolution; a revolution sanc- 
tioned by the deliberate verdict of all Europe. 

Many are in the habit of looking at results instead of causes^ and 
judging accordingly of the merit of a movement. If successful, the rebel 
becomes a hero ; if unsuccessful, a traitor. Such men have yet much 
to learn, before their wisdom will be perfect. 



INTRODUCTION. II 

The Patriots, though engaged in a conflict almost void of hope, fought 
bravely, gloriously. The whole country was roused. Beacon fires 
blazed on every hill-top, and the green valleys teemed with strong hearts 
ready for martyrdom. They baptized many a battle-field with their 
blood, and caused thousands of tlie British soldiery to bite the dust. 
Weak, undisciplined, unorganized, without provisions, arms, or ammuni- 
tion, they yet proved themselves no contemptible foe. Had they 
possessed but the ordinary means for such a contest, British dominion 
would long since have ceased in North America. No towering mon- 
ument perpetuates the glory of their achievements, and none is needed. 
The heart of every friend of liberty enshrines their memory. 

The end is not yet. The fire, once kindled, never expires. It may 
smoulder beneath the surface, unperceived by human eye, but it will 
break out again with added power. With the people of Canada, it is 
now a settled opinion that they shall sooner or later be independent 
They are beginning to feel their strengtli. The British government is 
itself conscious that its hold is fast relaxing. Its legislation indicates 
an intention to 'procrastinate, rather than totally to avoid, the result. 
The union of the two Provinces in one, which was insolently termed a 
measure of pacification, is a failure. It robs the French of Lower 
Canada of their proportionate influence, and thus keeps them in a state 
of irritation. The honest truth is, the home government cannot legislate 
successfully for the Provinces; and if they do not themselves sever the 
chain the people will do it for them. 

" Revolutions never go backward." It is a trite but emphatic 
truth, demonstrated a thousand times in the history of the past, and will 
be a thousand times in the history of the future. A revolution once 
started on its course, its termination is as certain as the pathway of the 
sun. Like that glorious luminarj^ it may be veiled in cloud, but it will 
still travel on behind the cloud. It moves on when no mortal eye can 
see it ; it moves on when the calm of deathlike quiet seems to pervade 
the whole land. Wake but the dormant principle of liberty in the bosom, 
and all the gilded opiates of tyranny cannot hush it to sleep again. 
How many times did the American revolution appear to be at an end, 
with its purpose unaccomplished ! Traitors and mutineers in our own 
camp ; a broken currency ; a starved and unpaid militia ; a hundred 
adverse influences, conspired to crush the enterprise. But the people 
had lerongs to redress ; wrongs that burned at the heart's core ; wrongs 
that made them oblivious of suffering ; and they conquered. The same 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

spirit, and the same oppression, that pushed our revolutionary sirea 
onward in the thorny path to victory, will influence the people of the 
Provinces. British despotism may deprive every patriot of his weapon ; 
may crowd the cells of their prisons, and the holds of their transport 
vessels ; but the principle will exist and operate, silently perhaps, but 
effectually, until, like the little leaven, it "has leavened the whole 
lump." 

The connection of citizens of the United States with tlie Canadian 
movement has been the theme of no stinted denunciation. Upon this 
point we have space but for few words. The act of Congress, of April 
20, 1818, provides, "that if any person shall, within the territory or 
jurisdiction of the United States, begin or set on foot, and provide or 
prepare the means, for any military expedition or enterprise, to be carried 
on from thence against the territories or dominions of any foreign prince 
or state, or of any colony, district or people, with whom the United 
States are at peace, any person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a 
high misdemeanor, and shall be lined not exceeding three thousand 
dollars, and imprisoned not more than three years." 

If an infraction of this law was committed — a point, by the way, 
which it is not our province now to discuss — England, at least, has no 
right to complain. That government is world-famous for its total disre- 
gard of international obligations; and its treaties with other powers, 
especially minor ones, have been repeatedly broken. 

Let us cite an instance ; one of the many acts of provocation and 
insult which aroused the spirit of liberty in the breasts of the patriotic 
citizens of our country residing on the frontier. The American steamer 
Caroline was quietly moored at tlie wharf of a port in the State of New 
York. She had no connection with the Patriots, a considerable body 
of whom then occupied Navy Island. She had made a few trips to the 
island, carrying passengers, each one paying his fare. This was a 
lawful and legitimate business. At the dead of night, while this vessel 
was thus lying at an American wharf, with several peaceful American 
citizens sleeping on board, a band of armed British tories, acting under 
the orders of their commanding officer, crossed over from the Canada 
side, boarded the steamer, murdered several innocent persons, applied 
the incendiary's torch, and sent the burning vessel over the fills of Ni- 
agara, Avith living men, as is generally believed, on board ! What did 
the British government ? Did they make prompt and ample restitution, so 
far as in their power, for this outrageous infraction of international law? 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

Did they punish the incendiaries and murderers ? No ! They formally 
sustained the act, and rewarded with high honors the perpetrators of it ! 
From that hour to this the wrong remains unredressed. The American 
people demanded energetic action from our government ; and the demand 
was met by expending quires of paper and quarts of ink ! The whole 
affair evaporated in official correspondence; and, when the Ashburton 
treaty was on the tapis, it was thrown into the scale as a make-weight. 

The tyrants of England, and the tyrants of all other countries, may 
be assured that, whenever and wherever an effort is made to " cast the 
cords " of oppression off, the great lieart of the American nation will 
respond. It is no infraction of enactments to feel or to speak our sym- 
pathy, or to transmit means for the contest.* 

Who> does not recollect how the popular pulse throbbed when the 
news reached us that Greece — famed in song and story — with the 
upraised cross, was struggling against the crescent; that Poland had 
bearded tlie Bear of Russia ; that young Texas had stricken itself from 
the roll of Mexican dependencies ! The chivalry of the nation was 
roused, and thousands of our gallant spirits rushed to the battle-field. 
All the means necessary to continue these contests were freely furnished* 
The press was pregnant with good will ; thronged assemblies were 
convened ; loud huzzas answered to eloquent appeals ; and the whole 
people were moved as by the upheaving of the volcano. Yet were we 
" at peace " with Turkey, with Russia, and with Mexico. 

Those of our citizens who passed over the line, and took sides with 
the Canadians on their own soil, had the legal right to do so. And the 
act was heroic. If he who bravely throws himself into the melee with 
hope and triumph before him deserves renown, much more does he who 
fights under the certainty of ultimate defeat. If he who joins his own 



*0n the question of national neutrality. Chancellor Kent, in vol. 1, p. 142, of his 
Commentaries, says : " It was contended, on the part of the French nation, iu 
1796, that neutral governments were bound to restrain their subjects from selling 
or exporting articles contraband of war to the belligerent powers. But it was 
successfully shown, on the part of the United States, that neutrals may lawfully 
sell at home to a belligerent purchaser, or carry, themselves, to a belligerent 
power, contraband articles, subject to the right of seizure in transitu. The right 
has since been explicitly declared by the judicial authorities of the country. The 
right of the neutral to transport, and of the hostile power to seize, are conflicting 
rights, and neither power can charge the other with a criminal act." 

In the case of the Santissima Trinidad, 7th Wheaton, p. 253, we find the follow- 
ing decision of the Supreme Court of the United States: "No neutral state is 
bound to prohibit the exportation of contraband articles, and the United States 
have not prohibited it." 



14 INTIIODUCTION. 

country iu a contest for freedom merits the wreath of glory, much more 
does he render himself immortal, who buckles himself to the strife for 
those who are not of his kindred or people. The Americans who were 
eng-aged in this movement letl home, friends, fortune, wives, and children 
behind them — for what? For toil, privation, poverty, imprisonment, 
exile, and death. They made a sublime effort in behalf of humanity 
Living or dead, all honor to their names and memory ! 



NARRATIVE OE ADVENTURES. 



CHAPTER I. 



Early Life — Residence in Roxhury, Massachusetts — Removal 
to Watertown, New York — Travels in Canada — Sympathy 
for the Canadian People — The Outbreak in Lower Canada — 
Battles of St. Dennis, St. Charles, and St. Eustache. 

My native place is Coventry, Vermont, where I was " ushered 
into this breathing world" in the year 1806. The particular 
day and hour of this somewhat important event to me, I shall 
leave veiled in obscurity, not having the vanity to suppose that 
it can be of any consequence to the thousands who I confidently 
hope will honor this unpretending story with a perusal. My 
father's name was Simon Heustis. He was a farmer, in moder- 
ate circumstances as to property, and the father of ten children. 
When I was at the age of ten years, he removed to Westmore- 
land, N. H., a quiet, agricultural town, near Keene, which, 
during my imprisonment, was rendered famous as the retreat of 
Governor Dorr, where he found a safe refuge, and received the 
warmest sympathy and kindest attentions of the inhabitants. 
Here my father and mother educated their numerous family as 
well as their limited means would allow. They were both mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church, and inculcated the principles 
of religion in their daily walk and conversation. For th6 
blessings of liberty and republican government I was early 
taught to cherish a lively gratitude. Tyranny and oppression, 
of every kind, I was led to abhor and detest. 



16 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

Of the events of my boyish days, and the thousand little inci- 
dents, adventures, frolics, and amusements, in which I was an 
eager participant, and which cast such glorious and invigorating 
rays of sunlight on the horizon of youth, it is not my purpose to 
speak. They are written on the tablet of memory, and the rough 
storms I have since encountered have only served to render the 
inscription still more legible and permanent. 

The story which I have to relate, will necessarily be a dark 
picture of suffering and misery. There will be much in it to 
call forth the sympathetic tear, and there will also be some lu- 
dicrous passages, that may excite a smile. My experience and 
observation during an imprisonment of six years, nearly five 
of which were passed in a distant penal colony among a congre- 
gated mass of criminals of every grade, have furnished me with 
ample materials for a thrilling book ; and, if I shall succeed in 
working these materials into proper shape, and in dressing my 
thoughts in suitable style, I have no fears of disappointing those 
who may undertake to read my narrative. 

In 1825 ray father was removed to a brighter and better 
world. In the spring of 1826, being then 20 years old, I came 
to Boston in quest of employment. That season I worked for 
Mr. Joshua Lewis, a farmer, in Roxbury, a few miles out of 
Boston. In the fall I returned to Westmoreland, in ill health, 
and remained there during the winter. 

The next spring I again found employment in Roxbury, on 
the farm of Mr. Joseph D. Williams, till July. After that I went 
into the employ of Dea. Elisha Wheeler, who kept an extensive 
grain, meal, and West India goods store, on the Neck, very near 
the Roxbury line. I remained with Deacon Wheeler nearly 
eight years, and it affords me pleasure to speak of his many vir- 
tues and noble traits of character. As a business man he has 
ever been distinguished for honesty and fairness in his dealings. 
I invariably found him kind, pleasant, and gentlemanly, and shall 
always remember with gratitude the friendly manner in which he 
treated me and others in his service. 

In March, 1834, 1 wentto Watertown, Jefferson county, N. Y., 
where an uncle of mine, James Wood, was residing. Water- 
town is the shire town of Jefferson county, and a place of some 
importance. It contains several manufactories, and is the centre 
bf considerable trade. 

My uncle gave me employment one season in the boating 
business between Sackett's Harbor and New York city. 

After that I went into the service of Messrs. Clark and Burr, 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTlS. 17 

morocco-dressers, at Watertown, who were doing an extensive 
business. I remained with them two years and a half. During 
that time I had occasion to travel much in Canada, between 
Toronto and Montreal, purchasing pelts and selling morocco. 
In these travels I saw much of the condition of the Canadian 
people, and frequently listened to their bitter complaints against 
the government under which they lived. They were harassed 
in a thousand ways, robbed of their dearest rights, plundered of 
their substance, and all their remonstrances no more heeded 
than the idle wind. They were taxed, most exorbitantly, to 
support a host of proud, overbearing, insolent, and virtually 
irresponsible government-officers, in whose appointment they 
had no voice, and over whose conduct they could exercise no 
control or supervision. It would require volumes to detail the 
grievances under which the people of Oanada became restless, 
and of which, as it appeared to me, they very justly uttered their 
emphatic complaints.* 



* That indefatigable, uncompromising, and devoted champion of the 
rights of the people of Canada, Wm. Lyon Mackenzie, who was repeat- 
edly elected a member of the local Parliament of Upper Canada, where 
he was unwearied in his endeavors to procure a change in the policy of 
the British government ; who, by means of his newspaper, always con- 
ducted with energy and ability, exerted a mighty influence in the cause 
of liberty ; who was sent to England by the reformers, on a mission 
having for its object a peaceful and legal redress of the wrongs of Can- 
ada ; — this much injured man has recently addressed a letter to Earl G-rey, 
Secretary of State for the Colonies of England, dated at Albany, N. Y., 
Nov. 22d, 1846, from which I make the following extract : — 

" Although I am at this moment the only remaining political exile 
who took part in the insurrection of 1837, in Upper Canada, yet I deny, 
as I ever have done, that armed opposition was anything more than a 
resistance to unlawful power, for lawful, just, and praiseworthy objects. 
I really wish we could have borne a little more of the insults, injuries, 
and oppressions, which I vainly endeavored, as your lordship well knows, 
to lessen or mitigate, for many years, and at great personal and pecuniary 
risks and sacrifices. ********* 

" My lord, I gave you and your colleagues a hundred warnings of the 
precipice on which you stood. I invited you to consider whether you 
could keep colonies, of immense extent, in view of the United States, on 
the principle of continually sacrificing the interests of the people to 
those of a vile faction. I laid on your table the memorials of a majority 
of the whole people of Upper Canada. I appeared in England as the 
agent of the various denominations of professing Christians who were 
aggrieved by your infatuated policy of exclusively establishing, endow- 
ing, organizing, and pensioning the clergy of the Episcopal Church. I 
had many long conversations with successive ministers of state ; my 



18 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

Who can wonder, that Vv^hat I saw and heard excited in my 
bosom a strong feeling of sympathy for the Canadian people ? 
They were tired of British rule, and would fiiin throw off the 
yoke that was on their necks, as our fathers had done when that 
yoke oppressed them. I should have been recreant to the prin- 
ciples of liberty in which I had been nurtured, had I not deeply 
sympathized with a people thus struggling to be free. 

In the spring of 1837 I went into business v/ith my cousin, 
A. R. Skinner, at Watertown. We traded in West India goods 
and groceries, and also carried on butchering. 

The public mind, in that vicinity, and along the whole line 
of the frontier, was then considerably awakened in regard to 
Canadian aifairs. The clouds which precede the storm were 
already, in dark and threatening aspect, gathering in the horizon. 
It was evident that a crisis was approaching, which might decide 
the future destiny, for weal or woe, of the Canadian people. 
During the summer and autumn of 1837 my business led me 
frequently into Upper Canada, and I found that the people were 
growing more and more discontented and manifested a strong 
desire to be relieved from British thraldom. 

In Lower Canada the people, incensed at the plundering of 
their treasury, and other high-handed acts of the home govern- 
ment, congregated in immense assemblages, recounted their 
grievances, and " pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their 
sacred honor," in the defence of their inalienable rights. These 
meetings were addressed by M. Papineau, who had been for 
several years Speaker of the Lower House of the Legislature, 
and whose talents and genius, no less than his devotion to their 
cause, had made him the acknowledged leader of the people in 
Lower Canada. His presence was everywhere hailed with de- 
light by the assembled thousands. The reformers had used no 
violence, and the government could charge them with no unlaw- 
ful act. Nevertheless, it was clearly seen that they were gaining 
strength by the agitation, and that, if it was long continued, the 



arguments and memorials are on record in the colonial department. 
After an eighteen months' residence in London I returned to Canada : 
a new legislature was chosen ; it embodied, through the labors of a 
special committee, over which I presided, the various grievances and 
wrongs which forty years of dissension and misrule had engendered ; it 
ordered a schedule of them to be printed i\ a volume of 570 octavo 
PAGES, and circulated by thousands throughout the colony." 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 19 

result would be disastrous to British rule in Canada. It was 
therefore the cunning policy of the government to hasten the 
crisis, by provoking a premature outbreak, and then taking ad- 
vantage of the unorganized and undisciplined condition of the 
people, to crush them and their cause, at once, by *' the armed 
heel of military preparation." The Executive Council accord- 
ingly issued warrants for high treason, against some of the prom- 
inent friends of the popular movement, and a detachment of 
cavalry, from Montreal, proceeded to St. Johns, and arrested 
P. P. Desmarais and Dr. Joseph Davignon, two worthy and in- 
fluential citizens. The prisoners, heavily ironed, were dragged, 
by a circuitous route, through one of the most populous and 
patriotic districts, on the banks of the River Chambly. The sight 
of these devoted men, thus torn from their homes to be immured 
in prison, and perhaps to suffer death on an ignominious scaffold, 
for having dared to protest against the despotic proceedings of a 
tyrannical government, aroused the people, and it was resolved 
to make a rescue. Accordingly, the farmers of the parish of 
Longueiel armed themselves and liberated their friends, the 
affrighted cavalry being glad to escape with their lives. On 
their arrival at Montreal, they reported that the whole district 
through which they had passed was in arms. 

This was joyful news for the government. They wanted some 
excuse for wreaking their bloody vengeance on the patriots who 
had so boldly opposed their misrule. " The long-desired blow 
is at last struck," said one of the tory papers. " Blood has at 
last been shed by the rebels, who now stand unmasked, and 
fairly subject to the worst penalties of the laws they have insult- 
ed. No British subject could desire better things." 

Arrests now became the order of the day. The Montreal jails 
were crowded with the prisoners. The reign of terror had 
commenced. Lieutenant-colonel Wetherall was immediately sent 
into the disaffected district, with a large detachment of cavalry. 
The whole country presented a scene of distress. The houses 
were deserted, the women and children having fled. 

The horrid butcheries and massacres that followed at St. 
Dennis, St. Charles, and St. Eustache, will ever form a memora- 
ble leaf in the history of British cruelty. The particulars are 
revolting to the feelings of humanity. The patriots, at these 
several villages, defended their homes and firesides with most 
exalted bravery. But they were poorly armed, short of ammu- 
nition, undisciplined, and almost entirely unprepared for the 
attack. 



20 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

The battle of St. Dennis took place on the 23d of November, 
1837. A force of 800 men, with four pieces of cannon and a 
howitzer, was despatched from Montreal to attack and pillage 
St. Dennis and St. Charles, where several of the leading reform- 
ers were residing. It was not anticipated that such an armed 
force would be sent to arrest half a dozen civilians, and no prep- 
aration had been made to oppose such a body. There were not 
more than thirty men at St. Dennis, previous to the arrival of the 
troops, and they were collected to prevent the seizure of Dr. 
Wolfred Nelson, by constables. When it was known that the 
troops were coming, the tocsin was sounded. About 300 men, 
armed with fowling guns and pitchforks, rallied around the gal- 
lant Dr. Nelson, and, after an engagement of six hours and a 
half, repulsed the British regulars and drove them back, with a 
loss of fifty men and one piece of cannon. The loss of the 
patriots was quite severe. The fatal discharge of the howitzer 
into a large building, which was crowded with men, occasioned 
a melancholy destruction of life. About one hundred fell in the 
action ; yet the survivors and their friends were encouraged by 
the favorable termination of the fight, and were ready to meet 
the foe again at St. Charles. 

The battle of St. Charles was fought on the 25th of Novem- 
ber. The government force, 700 strong, of regulars, infantry, 
and cavalry, were met by a considerable body of honest farmers, 
poorly armed, and ignorant of war. Col. Wetherall says : " On 
arriving at two hundred and fifty yards from the rebel works, I 
took up a position ; they opened a heavy fire, which was return 
ed. I then advanced to another position, one hundred yards 
from the works ; but finding the defenders obstinate, I stormed 
and carried them, burning every building within the stockade, 
except that of the honorable Mr. Debartzch. The affair occu- 
pied about an hour. The slaughter on the side of the rebels was 
great ; only sixteen prisoners were then made. I have counted 
fifty-six bodies, and many more were killed in the buildings, and 
their bodies burnt." Other accounts state that the farmers 
fought bravely, and that the butchery was dreadful. Upwards 
of one hundred were in a barn, full of hay and straw, which was 
set fire to, and they were burned alive, or smothered to death. 
Nearly one hundred men were driven into the river, and there 
perished. The wounded were inhumanly bayoneted. The 
houses were then fired by the soldiery, and the village entirely 
destroyed. The horrors of this scene of carnage and death it 
would be impossible to describe. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL B. IIEUSTIS. 21 

On the 30th of November, the victorious army, liaving 
completed their work of slaughter in the district they had visit- 
ed, and destroyed and pillaged the property of the patriots on 
the line of their march, and having garrisoned the several vil- 
lages where the patriotic spirit was known to be most rife, re- 
turned in triumph to Montreal, exhibiting the trophies they had 
won, and entering the city with as much pomp and parade as 
if they had conquered a hostile nation. 

The next great event in this sanguinary struggle was the battle 
of St. Eustache. This took place on the 14th of December. 
The village is twenty-one miles north of Montreal, on the banks 
of the Ottawa River, in a most lovely and picturesque rural settle- 
ment. The people, enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their 
country's independence, determined not to permit the arrest 
of their proscribed leaders, Dr. Jean Oliver Chenier, and the 
county representatives, Messrs. Girouard and Scott, for each 
of whom a reward of ^500 had been offered by the government. 
The village was attacked by Sir John Colborne, with 200 cav- 
alry, a large train of artillery, several regiments of European 
soldiers and Canadian loyalists, in all amounting to 2,250 strong 
The patriots numbered some 300 men, with strong and resolute 
hearts, but, like the people of St. Dennis and St. Charles, poorly 
armed, with very little ammunition, and nothing to rely upon but 
the most undaunted bravery. As the enemy advanced upon the 
village, the heroic Chenier addressed his comrades, telling them 
that they could escape, if they wished, by a road not yet occu- 
pied by the British; but never would he leave his home, and 
suffer defenceless women and children to fall into the hands of a 
merciless enemy, without striking a blow for their protection and 
defence. He concluded by saying that those who were prepared 
to sell their lives at the dearest possible rate could remain with 
him. Unanimously, the whole people cried out, " Liberty or 
Death ; we will never desert our homes and families." 

The plan of defence was hastily arranged. They took pos- 
session of several buildings, including the church, which was 
occupied by Dr. Chenier and sixty others. The enemy sur- 
rounded the village and cut off all retreat. The clergyman's 
house was first burnt, and the people who retreated to the cel- 
lars of the convent were either burnt or stifled to death. The 
soldiers next surrounded the church, set it on fire, and left the 
wounded to perish in the flames ; those who leaped from the 
windows were met by volleys of musketry. Dr. Chenier and a 
few brave men jumped through a window into the graveyard, 



22 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

where they fought with all the desperation of a forlorn hope. A 
boll soon brought their leader down, but he rallied his sinking 
strength, rose and discharged his gun at the enemy ; twice again 
he was brought to the ground, and twice he rose to the attack. 
The fourth time he fell to rise no more ! Chenier's fall 
was the signal for an indiscriminate slaughter of the remainder 
of his brave band. " No Quarter " was the cry, and, with few 
exceptions, all were massacred. Some few made for the ice, in 
the hope of gaining the opposite woods. One by one they were 
picked off by the marksmen posted at certain distances, and they 
perished amid the bleak wintry snows of Canada. 

After fighting four and a half hours, Sir John obtained com- 
plete possession of the village, which was then pillaged and 
committed to flames, a very oiiensive smell arising from the 
burning bodies. The brutal soldiery were let loose, to violate 
the women, to plunder and destroy property, and to glut their 
fiendish propensities in the commission of nameless outrages. 
Dr. Chenier's mutilated body was exposed, with the clothing 
stripped from his yet Vv^arm limbs, the body cut into quarters, 
and his heart torn out and exhibited to the gaze of the barbarous 
soldiers. His beautiful and accomplished wife implored in vain 
for the remains of her husband, that she might give them a de- 
cent burial. No disposition was made of the mangled body until 
the stench became intolerable, and then the friends were not 
allowed to deposit it in the cemetery. After having been in- 
erred a while, the mourning widow had it taken up, and for fear 
of further violence secreted it in a garret, till she, with her own 
hands, could cleanse it, sew it together, and bury it in a secret 
place; where, says his friend and schoolmate. Dr. Theller, when 
Canada shall be free, a monument will be erected to his memory; 
though no storied urn can so well tell his worth as the inscrip- 
tion already written upon the hearts of freedom's friends. 

On the IGth of December Sir John Colborne returned to 
Montreal, and rode through the city to receive the applause that 
greeted the return of such a conqueror. The following day the 
greater part of his force reached the city, escorting one hundred 
and five prisoners. 

Accounts of these massacres of patriotic republicans by the 
troops of Queen Victoria soon flew to the United States, and 
were received with mingled feelings of indignation and horror. 
Public meetings were immediately held in many of the towns 
and cities of the States bordering on the (Janadas, at wnich the 
highest enthusiasm was manifested in favor of the patriot cause; 



ADVENTURES OP CAPTAIN HEUSTIS. 



23 



resolutions of cordial sympathy, pledging aid and support, were 
adopted ; money, provisions, ammunition, and clothing were 
collected, and committees appointed to distribute these supplies 
to the best advantage. In short, the popular feeling was most 
ardently enlisted in behalf of an attempt so bravely, though un- 
successfully made, to obtain the boon of liberty. 

I have given the foregoing very brief sketch of the Lower 
Canada rebellion, as it is sometimes termed, because my nar- 
rative would be incomplete without a glance at this dark portion 
of Canadian history, and also because the events alluded to made 
a deep and abiding impression on my own mind, and were among 
the causes which induced me to embark in the attempt to liber- 
ate the people of Canada from the thraldom of British tyranny. 
My account, however, is necessarily very meagre, and those who 
desire to know more of the origin and history of that movement, 
will do well to consult other authors. 

Doctor E. A. Theller, a fearless volunteer in the patriot cause, 
was taken prisoner in Upper Canada, in January, 1838, tried 
for high treason and sentenced to death, but afterwards respited 
and sent to the fortress at Quebec, from whence he effected a 
most wonderful escape. Subsequently he published a highly 
interesting work, in two volumes, entitled " Canada in 1837-8," 
which, while it contains a faithful history of the Canadian revolt, 
gives an account of the author's own personal adventures, im- 
parting to the story all the interest of a thrilling romance. I 
most cordially commend this work to the attention of all who 
have not read it. 



24 



CHAPTER IL 

Attempted Revolution in Upper Canada — Escape of the Leaders 
to the United States — Occupation of Navy Island — Destruc- 
tion of the Caroline — Enlistment of the Author, and Journey 
to Buffalo — Evacuation of Navy Island — The Watertown 
Arsenal Guns — Hickory Island — General Van Rensselaer. 

In the Province of Upper Canada the reformers were not 
idle during the enactment of the scenes described in the pre- 
ceding chapter. They had arrived at the conclusion that longer 
submission to the arbitrary mandates of the British crown, and 
its despotic minions who exercised authority in the Provinces, 
would result in a loss, to them and their children, of all the 
rights which men hold dear. They therefore determined — after 
having exhausted, in vain, all the peaceful means within their 
control, to obtain redress — to make an effort to revolutionize 
the government of that Province. A day had been agreed upon 
for assembling in the vicinity of Toronto, the seat of government 
of Upper Canada, a volunteer force of armed citizens, adequate 
to take possession of that city, occupy the public buildings, and 
organize a new government. By a misunderstanding in relation 
to the time for striking the decisive blow, the attempt was ren- 
dered unsuccessful. The Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, 
Sir Francis Bond Head, being seasonably apprised of the in- 
tended attack, was enabled to rally a force sufficient to prevent 
it, inasmuch as a large portion of the patriots, owing to the 
mistake in regard to the time, did not arrive in season to co- 
operate with their friends. Those who did assemble were dis- 
couraged at not finding themselves supported, as they had expected 
to be, by thousands of congenial spirits, and, being tired out by a 
long and tedious march over bad roads, they began to falter in 
their purpose. Colonel Van Egmond, a man of great influence 
and military experience, who, in his young days, had served as 
aid-de-camp to Napoleon, had been selected to take the command 
of the patriots. He had not arrived. There being no one to 
direct operations, Mr. Mackenzie, in conjunction with Captain 
Anthony Anderson, a man of daring bravery, made such pre- 
liminary arrangements as the emergency demanded. After some 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 25 

skirmishes, in which the patriots were successful, Sir Francis 
received strong reinforcements. He then marched out of the 
city with his army, in three divisions, the main one taking the 
direct road toward the patriots, and the other two going a mile 
to the right and left, with the intention of surrounding the patriot 
encampment. A spirited fight took place between the main body 
of the loyalists and the patriots. The former commenced the 
battle with a heavy fire of grape and canister from their park of 
artillery, followed by volleys of musketry, which the patriots, 
with their rifles, returned with deadly effect. Colonel Van 
Egmond had then arrived, and the patriots had received small 
reinforcements. They returned each volley with spirit until a 
report spread among them that they were surrounded. They 
were then compelled to retreat, leaving their killed and wounded 
on the field. 

After the retreat, Mackenzie, Fletcher, "Van Egmond, and 
others, held a consultation, and concluded that it would be use- 
less, under the existing circumstances, to collect their scattered 
forces. Many of the patriots then returned to their homes, while 
others kept together, for the purpose of making their way into 
other districts, where they expected to find the people in arms. 
Some of the leaders escaped to the United States. 

Thousands of men from the distant townships, who had been 
notified that the attack on Toronto would take place a few days 
after the time of the actual outbreak, were on the road to join 
the patriot standard ; but when they heard of the disastrous re- 
sult of the scheme, and were met by the government troops, they 
made a virtue of necessity, and pretended they had come to aid 
in quelling the insurrection. They were enrolled as volunteers, 
and compelled to serve as such, much against their inclinations. 

If the plans and advice of Mr. Mackenzie had been adopted 
in this critical affair, there is not the least doubt that the rev- 
olution would have been consummated with very little sacrifice 
of life or property. After the arrangements had been completed, 
and notice of the time of the revolt sent into the distant town- 
ships, some of the leaders at Toronto, in the absence of Mr 
Mackenzie, sent out another notice, calling upon their friends to 
rally several days earlier than the original plan contemplated. 
As it was impossible for the last notice to reach the distant 
places in season, great confusion was the consequence. Mr. 
Mackenzie, on learning how matters stood, endeavored to coun- 
termand the mistaken notice, but it was too late ; the men were 
on their way; and if they were ordered back the scheme would 
2 



26 CAPTIVITY AXD ADVENTUKHS OF 

be revealed to the government, and the pl:in would thus be frus- 
trated. Mr. Mackenzie then tried to turn these untoward cir- 
cumstances to advantage. He urged an immediate attempt to 
take Toronto, with the small force then assembled, as delay 
would enable the Lieutenant-Governor to mature his plans of 
defence, and to obtain strong reinforcements. But there was 
division in the patriot councils, and the golden moment was 
suffered to pass unimproved. If the blow had been promptly 
struck, aided as it would have been by a large majority of the 
citizens, such was the weakness and terror of the loyalists that 
there can be no doubt that an easy victory would have crown- 
ed the effort. 

The tavern of Mr. Montgomery, three miles from Toronto, 
was committed to flames by order of Sir Francis, on a pretence 
that it had been the head-quarters of the rebels. The valuable 
property of Mr. Mackenzie, in the city, and the house, barn, and 
outhouses of IMr. Gibson, were also consigned to the devouring 
element, after the loyal volunteers had appropriated to their own 
use such articles as they coveted. 

A party that had been sent out to scour the country returned 
on the succeeding day, v.'ith a number of prisoners, among whom 
was Colonel Van Egmond. These unfortunate men were con- 
fined in damp and unwholesome cells, where hunger and cold 
engendered disease, of which the gallant and noble Colonel Van 
Egmond and several others died. 

Colonel Samuel Lount and Captain Peter Matthews were 
c.iptured, taken to Toronto, tried, adjudged guilty, and condemn- 
ed to death. Tiie popular feeling was strong in their favor, and 
the governor was besieged with petitions from all quarters, pray- 
ing that their lives might be spared. Over 30,000 persons thus 
entreated for executive clemency, but in vain. Previous to their 
execution, which took place on the ISth of April, 1838, Sir 
George Arthur had succeeded Sir Francis B. Head, as Lieuten- 
ant-Governor of Upper Canada. The change, however, was but 
u removal of one tyrant, to fill his place with another, still more 
bloodthirsty. I shall speak of the barbarous execution in a 
succeeding chapter. 

The city was then garrisoned, and the loyalist militia quartered 
in every disaffected district. The families of those engaged in 
the insurrection were treated with the most brutal ferocity. 

Wm. L. Mackenzie and David Gibson, two of the most prom- 
inent leaders of tlie reformers in and out of Parliament, crossed 
the lake to BufTalo, where they were received with open arms. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 27 

and welcomed to the "land of the free, and the home of the 
brave." A number of the most respectable citizens volunteered 
to guard the hotel where they stopped, lest some prowling to- 
ries or British spies, incited by the heavy reward offered by 
Governor Head, should make an attempt to kidnap them. 
The next day Mackenzie addressed the people in relation to 
the wrongs of Canada, giving an account of the defeat of the 
patriots, and its consequences. 

Volunteers at once enrolled their names for the patriot 
service. Their head-quarters was the Eagle tavern, from 
which floated the Canadian banner. Arms, clothing, provisions, 
and munitions of war, were freely contributed. 

The Canadian refugees were desirous of raisinor their banner 

a o 

on British soil, where they could enrol and discipline the vol- 
unteers that might join them. Mackenzie, with only twenty- 
five others, embarked in a small boat, and took possession of 
Navy Island, in the river immediately above Niagara Falls. 
This island belongs to Great Britain, is about a mile and a half 
long, a mile in breadth, and is described by Sir F. B. Head as 
" a lovely wooded spot." It is within half a mile of the Canadian 
shore, and well adapted for the purpose intended. 

Here they were soon joined by volunteers to the number of 
600; Rensselaer Van Rensselaer, of Albany, was appointed 
commander, and the camp exhibited a scene of active prepara- 
tion for warlike movements. Many of the oppressed Canadians 
resolved to second and support this bold movement, and, at the 
most imminent risk, left their homes and crossed the lake in 
open boats, at a very inclement season of the year, to share the 
fortunes of their countrymen and friends. 

The tories at Toronto were frightened half to death when the 
news of the occupation of Navy Island reached that city. All 
the military force they could muster, amounting to nearly 5000 
men, was immediately ordered to take a position at Chippewa, 
opposite the island, to prevent the patriots from landing. 

About this time General Donald McLeod and Captain Silas 
Fletcher, prominent patriots, fled from Canada, hotly pursued, 
and after some '* hair-breadth escapes " crossed the St. Law- 
rence in a small boat, and made their way to Watertown. Their 
exit from Canada was so sudden that they did not take with 
them even complete suits of clothes. They met with the most 
cordial and substantial sympathy from the people of Watertown, 
who listened with eager attention to their exciting story, and, as 
they spoke of the outrages committed on the unfortunate patriots 



28 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

every heart throbbed with indignation. They afterwards pro- 
ceeded to Rochester, where they found Doctor Rolph, another 
prominent exile from the land of despotism. 

While General McLeod and Captain Fletcher were at Water- 
town the news of the destruction of the steamboat Caroline 
reached town. The excitement created by this daring outrage, 
as may well be conceived, was intense. It was a national insult, 
of the grossest kind. It comprehended an armed invasion of our 
territory, the murder of peaceful American citizens, and the 
wanton destruction of an American vessel. I need not give the 
particulars of that tragic affair. They are known the wide world 
over. Mr. Mackenzie says : " The Caroline sailed under the 
American flag, which the assailants took to Toronto and display- 
ed at annual festivals in honor of this outrage. She was set in a 
blaze, cut adrift, and sent over the Falls of Niagara. We wit- 
nessed the dreadful scene from Navy Island. The thrilling cry 
ran around that there were living souls on board ; and as the 
vessel, wrapt in vivid flame, which disclosed her doom as it shone 
brightly on the water, was hurrying down the resistless rapids to 
the tremendous cataract, the thunder of which, more awfully dis- 
tinct in the midnight stillness, horrified every mind with the 
presence of their inevitable fate, numbers caught, in fancy, the 
wails of dying men, hopelessly perishing by the double horrors 
of a fate which nothing could avert ; and we watched with ago- 
nized attention the flaming mass, till it was hurried over the 
falls to be crushed in everlasting darkness in the unfathomed 
tomb of waters below." The American people will never rest 
satisfied until some more substantial atonement has been made 
by the British government for this flagrant act of aggression. 
Our government has disgraced itself by accepting the flimsy 
apology which, at the eleventh hour, was offered us. 

On the 10th of January, 1838, 1 gave up business and devoted 
myself to the cause of Canadian liberty. I started immediately 
for Navy Island, and was accompanied by several brave men 
who had the same object in view. I carried with me four rifles 
and the same number of muskets, which had been presented to 
me by friends in Watertown. I was also well supplied with 
ammunition. Those who accompanied me also had good and 
trusty rifles, and other needful equipments. We travelled by 
stage to Rochester, a distance of 120 miles. There I met Gen- 
eral McLeod, Captain Fletcher, and Doctor Rolph. They en- 
trusted to my care three pieces of cannon, to convey to their 
friends on Navy Island. We then proceeded by railroad to 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTiS. 29 

Batavia, and thence again by stage to Buffalo, where we arrived 
on the evening of the 15th, and put up at the Eagle tavern, the 
head-quarters of the patriots. There we soon learned that Navy 
Island had been evacuated the day before, and that about 500 
of the men were then in Buffalo. 

W. L, Mackenzie was stopping at a private house, and it was 
reported that the authorities of the United States were anxious 
to arrest him. I had letters to him from General McLeod and 
Doctor Rolph. Without much difficulty I found his place of 
retreat, and after a little parley with the landlady, who was ex- 
ceedingly cautious, lest her guest should fall into the hands of 
his enemies, I gained an introduction. Mr. Mackenzie was 
enjoying the society of his wife, and those kind attentions which 
their circumstances demanded were cheerfully bestowed. I met 
with a cordial reception, and spent a few moments in talking 
over plans for future operations. 

A man named T. J. Sutherland had been commissioned as a 
Brigadier-General by the provincial government at Navy Island, 
and was then on his way to take command of a considerable 
number of Canadian refugees and American volunteers from 
Ohio and Michigan, who, it was expected, would unfurl the 
patriot banner at Maiden, on the Canada side of the Detroit 
River. General McLeod wished me to take a Lieutenant- 
Colonel's commission under Sutherland. Mackenzie advised 
me not to do so, as he had no confidence in the man. Subse- 
quent events proved that Sutherland was totally unfit for the 
command to which he had been appointed, and that Mackenzie 
had rightly estimated his character. 

It may be proper to remark here that I held only a Captain's 
commission in the patriot service. Some of my friends supposed 
that I was a Colonel, but they were mistaken. Though repeat- 
edly urged to accept a higher commission, I preferred to fill a 
subordinate station. 

The next evening, by agreement, Mackenzie met me at the 
Eagle tavern. General Van Rensselaer, Mr.* Gibson, and the 
famous " Bill Johnson," the hero of the " Thousand Islands," 
were present at this meeting. It was judged inexpedient to 
continue operations in that quarter, under the then existing cir- 
cumstances. In addition to the large force stationed on the 
Canada side to prevent a landing, the authorities of the United 
States were making great exertions to thwart our plans. We 
therefore turned our attention to other points, with a view of 
making a demonstration at some subsequent time. It was finally 



30 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OP 

agreed that an attempt should be made to take Fort Henry, at 
Kingston, on or about the 22d of February. With a view to 
make preparations for this new scheme I returned toWatertowH, 
at the particular request of Bill Johnson. Mr. Gibson and Mr. 
Mackenzie and wife accompanied me. Under an assumed name, 
Mr. Gibson took lodgings at a hotel. Mr. Mackenzie kept se- 
creted twelve or fifteen days, during which time his letters came 
to my care. 

A circular was issued and extensively distributed through 
Jefferson county, calling upon the friends of Canada for contri- 
butions. In answer to this circular, provisions, clothing, and 
money, were freely offered. Teams were sent round to collect 
these articles, the general depot being at Watertown. 

Active efforts were also made in enlisting men and procuring 
the necessary arms and ammunition. Teams were sent out in 
all directions to collect munitions of war. I went with one 
to Carthage, Champion, Rutland, Denmark, and Lockport, and 
returned well laden with the free offerings of a free people. 

On the night of the 17th of February we borrowed, without 
leave, about 700 stand of arms from the arsenal at Watertown. 
It was the general opinion, the next day, that the arms had gone 
toward Canada; but the U. S. Deputy Marshal, Jason Fair- 
banks, Esq., in his pursuit of them, went in an opposite direc- 
tion, and before he had travelled many miles ruined a valuable 
horse, worth nearly as much as the guns. For future security a 
guard was set over the arsenal. Nevertheless, some of the arms 
escaped on subsequent occasions, and it was mischievously re- 
ported that the sentinels were very useful in passing them out of 
the building. Eventually they were nearly all returned. 

Whether the seizure of these arms was a justifiable act or not, 
is a question I shall not stop to discuss. It certainly was well 
planned and boldly executed, which cannot be said of all the 
projects to liberate Canada. The matter was afterwards inves- 
tigated by the grand jury, but very little information could be 
obtained. The testimony of a teamster, named Carter, who 
lived near French Creek, and who had occasionally been em- 
ployed by Bill Johnson, was about as much to the point as any. 
It was nearly as follows. He was asked if he was acquainted 
with William Johnson. He replied that he was. 

" Have you been in his service recently ?" 

" I have." 

** Was you at Watertown on the day of February ? " 

** I was." 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 31 

"Did your carry a load from Watertown to French Creek?" 

"I did." 

*' Where did you get that load?" 

" When I drove up to Gilson's hotel, in the evening, a man 
came out and said he would take care of my Imrses, He was a 
large man, or else he was considerably bundled up. I gave up 
the horses to him and went in to warm me. In about half an 
hour the horses were again brought to the door. I went out, 
and the man told me to drive to French Creek as quick as 
possible." 

" What did your load consist of?" 

" I don't know." 

" Why didn't you look to see?" 

" I didn't want to know." 

" Was it light or heavy ? " 

" It drawed pretty heavy." 

" What did you do with the load ?" 

-' When I got to French Creek, the next morning, I drove to 
Buzzell's hotel, where I stopped and went in to warm me. 
Being very cold, I remained some time. When I went out my 
team was standing at the door, but the sleigh had been unloaded. 
I then took my team and drove home, and that is all I know 
about it." 

Several pieces of cannon belonging to artillery companies in 
different towns in the county wore also borrowed without much 
ceremony, and probably without much regret on the part of the 
companies. They were afterwards returned in good order. 

On the evening of the 21st of February about 090 men assem- 
bled at French Creek, a small village on the American side of 
the St. Lawrence, with the intention of marching the next day 
upon Kingston, on the opposite side of the river. General R. 
Van Rensselaer was to command the expedition. With a com- 
pany of fifty men he marched on the ice that evening to Hickory 
Island, six miles from French Creek. This was a small island, 
with only one house on it. 

The next morning I led another company of fifty men to the 
Island. Captain Lightle soon joined us with another company. 
About noon Leman L. Leach made his appearance with a com- 
pany from Syracuse. Colonel Martin Woodruff remained at 
French Creek for the purpose of forwarding the volunteers as 
they arrived. A large number of men in sleighs visited the 
island during the day, but many of them only stopped a short 
time. At no time did our force consist of more than 300 men* 



32 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OP 

Three persons were arrested, suspected of being spies from 
Canada. They were placed under guard and detained till night, 
when they were released. About sundown Bill Johnson joined 
us. Our number had then materially diminished. There was 
much disappointment manifested at not finding a larger force 
assembled. We had calculated on a thousand men, good and 
true, for this expedition, and had provided an ample supply of 
arms, ammunition, and provisions. With feelings of deep morti- 
fication we were obliged to pronounce the enterprise a failure. 
But so unwilling was I to relinquish the attack upon Fort Wel- 
lington, that I still offered to go if niuety-nine would accompany 
me in the hazardous assault. My proposal was considered too 
daring and impolitic, and but few were willing to embark in an 
expedition which promised nothing but inevitable defeat and 
destruction. We therefore returned to French Creek, Johnson 
and myself being the last to leave the island. Various excuses 
were made by those who disappointed our expectations. I am 
willing the mantle of charity should hide their conduct. 

Some of us remained at French Creek over night, but the 
larger portion dispersed in various directions. The inhabitants 
of the village, fearing an attack from the British in the course 
of the night, had fled into the country. The occupants of one 
or two houses, known to be tories, burnt blue lights in their 
windows, that their British friends might spare them in case of 
an attack. 

The day after we left Hickory Island two peaceable farmers, 
from Jefferson county, named John Packard and George Holson- 
burgh, went there merely out of curiosity. They were arrest- 
ed by a company of British dragoons, and closely confined in 
Kingston jail till August, when they were discharged without a 
trial. They had no connection with the patriots, and, notwith- 
standing that fact was fully and clearly represented to the proper 
authorities, they were imprisoned six months ! So much for 
British justice. 

General Van Rensselaer, after the failure at Hickory Island, 
went to Syracuse, where he was arrested and lodged in jail, 
charged with a breach of the neutrality law. He was required 
to give heavy bonds for his appearance at Albany, in September, 
for trial. Pie had no difficulty in procuring bail, and at the ap- 
pointed time was tried, adjudged guilty, and sentenced to pay a 
fine and be imprisoned. He was a son of the late postmaster at 
Albany. The father was a gallant soldier in the last war, and 
was wounded at dueenston. At the commencement of the Ca- 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 33 

nadian difficulties the son was editing a paper in Albany. His 
sympathies were at once enlisted in behalf of the patriots. He 
was one of the earliest to join their standard, and was chief in 
command at Navy Island. He had been educated at West 
Point, and was at that time thirty or thirty-five years old. I 
formed an acquaintance with him, and believed him to be a man 
of undoubted courage, and well qualified for a military chief- 
tain. 

It had been represented to us that thousands in Canada were 
ready to flock to the patriot standard as soon as it could be plant- 
ed on their soil. They were destitute of arms; and any attempt 
to revolt, without assistance from abroad, would but result in de- 
feat, the consequences of which would be terrible to themselves 
and their families. If we could take Fort Henry, a rallying- 
point would be established, where the Canadians could muster, 
provide themselves with arms, and prepare to meet the tyrants 
who were oppressing them. The scheme appeared practicable, 
and I have always lamented that no better success attended it. 
It is a satisfaction, however, to feel that no efforts were spared 
on my part to realize the high hopes which were entertained of 
this enterprise, so unfruitful in its results. 

I accepted an invitation to ride home, with some friends from 
Watertown. On the way we stopped at Depeauville, for dinner; 
We there met the U. S. District-Attorney, N. S. Benton, Esq., 
and Deputy-Marshal Fairbanks, on their way to French Creek, 
in the expectation of official business. Our sudden return from 
Canada gave the Deputy-Marshal an opportunity to crack a few 
jokes at my expense. The learned Attorney wished to know by 
what authority we had presumed to arrest and detain men on the 
Island. Without knowing his official character, I replied that 
it was highly probable that gentlemen of as much consequence 
as he appeared to imagine himself might have been arrested, if 
found there under suspicious circumstances. Turning to his 
companion, he said, " Mr. Fairbanks, take notice of that; it's a 
long road that never turns." 

On the 27th of February William Johnson was arrested, by 
Mr. G arrow, U. S. Marshal, and gave bail for his appearance at 
Albany, in September, to answer to a charge of violating the 
neutrality law. At the trial he was acquitted. 
2* 



34 



CHAPTER III. 



Arrest of the Author — Journey to Auburn, in Charge of the U. S 
Marshal — Amusing Incident — Curiosity to see a Famous 
Man — Examination before Judge Conklin — Discharge — 
Examination of Benjamin Collins — Tlie Witnesses — Trials 
in Canada — Execution of Lount and 3Iatthews. 

On the 20th of February I was politely waited upon by the 
U. S. Marshal, Nathaniel Garrow, Esq., and very kindly told 
that my sympathy for the Canadians had been indulged a little 
too freely, and not exactly according to the " statute in such 
cases made and provided." In other words, I had an account to 
settle with Uncle Sam, for having treated one of his darling 
pets, the neutrality law, with disrespect. Mr. Benjamin Collins 
was placed in the same category, and bail in the modest little 
sum of $10,000 was demanded, for our appearance at Albany, 
in September, for trial. We had no difficulty, however, in find- 
ing good bondsmen. But, before the bail bonds were executed, 
I told Mr. Collins we had better not give bail, as we should be 
compelled to go to Albany at our own expense, and we could 
have a preliminary examination, which might result in our dis- 
charge, by going with the Marshal to Auburn. At any rate, we 
could as well give bail in Auburn as in VVatertown, and the 
government would have to bear our expenses while in charge of 
the Marshal. I therefore told Mr. Garrow that we should not 
give bail. He said he should be ready to start with us at ten 
o'clock that night, in the stage. I offered to give bail for my 
appearance at the appointed time, but the Marshal said he would 
take my word for it, and we were at liberty to go where we 
pleased. 

The stage started at the appointed hour. The only passen- 
gers were the Marshal, two Deputy-Marshals, Mr. Collins, and 
myself The stage agent told the driver to stop when he arrived 
opposite the Jefferson County Bank, to take in a passenger. 
The driver obeyed his instructions; but a salute from the village 
cannon, which our friends had arranged as expressive of their 
good wishes, was the only passenger obtained at the place desig- 
nated. The cannon's loud peal was sweet music in our earS; 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 35 

speaking as it did in a voice of encouragement and sympathy 
from those with whom we had long been intimate, and whose 
confidence and esteem we highly prized. 

We arrived at Oswego the next day, at noon, where we re- 
mained until the following morning, the Marshal having some 
official business to attend to. We were allowed to go where we 
pleased without any restraint, and all our bills, even to the black- 
ing of our boots, were settled by the Marshal. 

When we left Oswego, our company was increaseo oy the 
addition of George Rathbun, Esq., a young lawyer of that place, 
who had acted as aid to General Van Rensselaer at Hickory 
Island, and one other person, whose name I do not recollect. 
They were supposed to have committed the same enormous of- 
fence which was laid to our charge. Daniel C. Burns, a consta- 
ble of Oswego, was taken as a witness. 

On the road, the Marshal appeared to be in a facetious mood, 
and created some merriment by his remarks concerning the 
patriot army, and by inquiring of me what commission I held. 
For the sake of the sport, he said he would furnish champagne 
for the company, if I would consent to pass for '* General 
Mackenzie," at the hotel where we were to stop for dinner, and 
where the Marshal was well known. The fame of " General 
Mackenzie" had spread through the land, and the desire to see 
him was great, especially in the section of country through which 
we were travelling. It was generally supposed that the Marshal 
was about to arrest Mr. Mackenzie, and the report that he had 
him in custody would easily gain credence. I consented to act 
the part assigned to me. Constable Burns was to officiate as 
my waiter, or servant, and he took a seat on the box with the 
driver. 

It being just before the March election, there was a caucus at 
the hotel, of about 200 persons. As soon as he arrived, the 
driver, according to instructions, reported that the Marshal had 
*' General Mackenzie " in his charge. The news spread like 
wildfire, and before we entered the hotel a large crowd had con- 
gregated in the passage-way, anxious to catch a glimpse of the 
hero. The Marshal apparently treated me with much respect, 
and Mr. Burns was exceedingly devoted in his attentions. We 
had to wait a few moments for dinner, the crowd around the 
hotel in the mean time being considerably augmented. One 
man actually sent his horse and sleigh the distance of a mile and 
a half, after his beloved wife, that she might see the distinguished 
stranger. 



30 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

A few of the more aspiring were anxious for an introduction, 
and among the number was one whose honest visage and sturdy 
frame bespoke him a tiller of the soil. 

*'I am glad to see you, Mr. Mackenzie," said he, grasping 
my hand, " and hope you will get clear; for it is too bad to pun- 
ish a man, in this free country, for fighting against the British 
tories, law or no law. I think our government had better look 
after the rascals that burnt the Caroline, and let you alone. 
They are murderers and pirates, and ought to be hung as much 
as anybody ; that's my notion. The British had better be care- 
ful how they insult us. We've got some of the old revolutionary 
spirit yet, as they'll find out, if they don't- mind how they carry 
sail. Good luck to you, General ; I hope the court will clear 
you." 

" I thought General Mackenzie had a sandy complexion," said 
one of the multitude, whose bump of credulity was not so prom- 
inently developed, perhaps, as it might have been. 

" He wears a wig ; don't you see his red whiskers," instantly 
replied Constable Burns, to whom the remark had been address- 
ed. This answer was perfectly satisfactory. My personal iden- 
tity was fully established. 

At the dinner-table all my wants were anticipated by the affa- 
ble host and his attendants. Not even the Marshal, who had 
frequently dined at that house, and whose patronage was of some 
consequence to the landlord, received the same degree of atten- 
tion that I did. 

After dinner we returned to the sitting-room, and there a new 
scene opened upon our view. The women of the village, old 
and young, had flocked into the room in our absence, and were 
standing two or three deep, in a sort of semi-circle, waiting our 
return. This was what I had not anticipated. It was an addi- 
tional act in the play, which I was not prepared to perform. 
However, I passed through the ordeal with as much composure 
as possible, and met the sparkling glances of youthful maidens, 
and the eager gaze of aged matrons, peering through spectacles, 
with all the coolness I could command. To a bashful man such 
scenes are embarrassing. 

"Poor man ! How I pity him !" ejaculated one of the fair 
creatures, in an audible whisper. 

** What will they do with him, mother?" inquired a young 
girl, with much anxiety depicted in her countenance. 

** Do you think they'll hang him?" whispered another, while 
the tears were coursing down her cheeks. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 37 

" It's too bad ; he was only fighting for liberty ! " were the last 
words I heard, as we were leaving the room to resume our seats 
in the stage. 

Such manifestations of interest in the fate of those who have 
risked fortune and life in a struggle for liberty, are not uncom- 
mon. In all such contests the heart of woman instinctively en- 
twines its sympathies around the oppressed and the unfortunate. 

"Which is he?" "Show him to me!" As we passed 
through the crowd, these and similar expressions came from 
those who had not yet had an opportunity to gratify their curios- 
ity. Their more knowing friends very wisely pointed to me, 
and doubtless rejoiced-in being able to enlighten their neighbors. 

The driver snapped his whip over the ears of his leaders, and 
again we were on the road. Just as we started, three enthusi- 
astic cheers, that made the welkin ring, were given for " Gen- 
eral Mackenzie," the ladies waving their handkerchiefs in token 
of approbation. 

We indulged ourselves in a hearty laugh; and the Marshal 
observed, " That was admirably done ; we couldn't better it, 
if we should try." 

As we were detained at the hotel some time, the information 
that " General Mackenzie " was in the stage had preceded us on 
the road, and of course I had to maintain the dignity of my posi- 
tion at the several stopping-places. 

When we arrived at Auburn, in compliance with a desire I 
had expressed to the Marshal to stop at a good patriot house, he 
took us to the Northern Exchange, one of the best hotels in the 
place, and told the landlord to furnish us with whatever we 
wanted. He then went to his own residence, leaving us to pass 
the Sabbath in our own way, without molestation. 

On Monday morning we visited the Auburn State Prison, by 
invitation of the Marshal, whose son was the keeper, and who 
politely conducted us through the whole establishment. Since 
that time I have had occasion to contrast the treatment of the 
inmates of the Auburn Prison with that which I have received at 
the hands of British tyrants. The Auburn prisoners had been 
convicted of crimes of almost every hue, yet their discipline was 
much less severe, and their living much better, than the unfor- 
tunate patriots had meted out to them, for no other crime than 
an attempt to establish republican institutions in Canada. 

Several influential citizens of Auburn called to see us, in- 
quired if they could render us any assistance, and offered to be- 
come our bondsmen, if we should need any. 



38 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

The examinations took place before Judge Conklin, of the U. 
S. District Court. Mr. Benton, District-Attorney, from Herki- 
mer county, appeared for the government. We employed no 
counsel. Among the witnesses against me, were Jason Fair- 
banks, Deputy-Marshal, Alvin Hunt, Esq., Editor of the Water- 
town Jeffersonian, Nathan Wiley, Luther Gilson, Linus W. 
Clark, and Austin R. Skinner, all from Watertown, besides 
several from French Creek and Adams. Their testimony did 
not sustain the charge. The last witness put upon the stand 
was the Deputy-Marshal, and the District-Attorney endeavored 
to prove by him that I had insulted and abused him (Benton) by 
saying, at Depeauville, that gentlemen of as much consequence 
as he might have been put under guard, if found on Hickory 
Island under suspicious circumstances. After the evidence was 
all in. Judge Conklin, addressing the Attorney, said, " You do 
not expect to hold Mr. Heustis to bail on this testimony." Ben- 
ton replied, ** Yes, may it please your honor, I think abusing an 
officer is sufficient to hold him to bail." The Judge, with a 
smile, remarked, "I consider that nothing but bar-room talk," 
and turning to me, added, "I shall discharge you." So the dis- 
tinguished Attorney had to travel his long road still farther, to 
find the turn. He felt the cutting remark of the Judge, and 
hung his head a little lower than it had been. 

After my discharge the Marshal publicly congratulated me, in 
the crowded court-room, on my safe deliverance from the 
clutches of the law. It was very easy to perceive that the pop- 
ular voice sanctioned the decison of the Judge. 

Colonel Martin Woodruff, of Salina, Onondaga county, was 
the next one called. He waived an examination and gave bail. 
George Rathbun, Esq., was examined and discharged. 

When the case of Benjamin Collins came on, the District- 
Attorney stated that he was not prepared to proceed, as the wit- 
nesses by whom he expected to prove the charge had kept out 
of the way, and he had not been able to summon them. He 
therefore wished that Mr. Collins would give bail, and waive an 
examination. Mr. C. said, if the government would provide him 
with a suitable team, a span of horses and sleigh, he would go 
himself and get the witnesses. Strange as it may seem, the team 
was provided, and he immediately started for Watertown, a dis- 
tance of 100 miles, after witnesses to convict himself! in due 
time he returned, with all the witnesses required. In the course 
of the examination one of them was asked if he was on Hickory 
Island, on the 22d of February. He replied that he was. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 29 

"Did you see Mr. Collins there?" 

"I did." 

*' Did you see him have any arms ? " 

" I can't say that I did." 

" Was he an officer, exercising any command ? " 

*' I don't know that he was." 

*' How came you at Hickory Island?" 

" I went because the rest did." 

"Did you have any arms?" 

" Yes, I had a good rifle." 

"What else did you have?" 

" I had 250 balls, and powder enough to push 'em, by G- 



The Judge reminded the witness that he ought to be a little 
more careful, or he might criminate himself. Mr. Collins was 
finally discharged, and thus ended the examinations, which cost 
the government a round sum of money, and did very little good. 
The District-Attorney did not gain many laurels in the business. 
I returned to Watertown with Mr. Fairbanks. 

During the spring and summer of 1838, hundreds of quiet and 
peaceable men, in Canada, were tried for high treason. They 
had been thrust into prison, their families abused, their property 
sacrificed, and every effort made to get them convicted. After 
suffering much by imprisonment and brutal treatment, many of 
them were acquitted. It was impossible to find juries wicked 
enough to declare them guilty, notwithstanding the whole power 
of the government was exerted against them, aided by the judges, 
who were all bitter tories. Those who were convicted were 
doomed to perish on the scaffold, or endure the more lingering 
and dreadful sentence of transportation to a penal colony. 

Among the martyrs were Colonel Samuel Lount and Captain 
Peter Matthews, to whom I have before alluded. Their execu- 
tion was such a barbarous act of cruelty, that I must briefly al- 
lude to the circumstances attending it, although they may be 
known to the public generally. It took place on the 12th of 
April. The day before, Mrs. Lount presented to the Governor, 
Sir George Arthur, a petition signed by 30,000 inhabitants, who 
were opposed to shedding their blood. But that cruel tyrant 
insulted the wretched woman, by sneeringly asking her if she 
thought her husband was prepared to die ; and, being answered in 
the affirmative, telling her that at another time he might not be 
so well prepared. He said that men who could control the sym- 
pathies of so many loyal people were dangerous citizens, and he 
should not pardon them. The unhappy wife swooned and fell 



40 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OP^ 

senseless at his feet. He turned upon his heel, and ordered her 
to be removed from the apartment. That night the families of 
the condemned were permitted to take a last sad farewell, and 
language is inadequate to picture the scene. Colonel Lount left 
a widow and seven children, and Captain Matthews a widow and 
fifteen children. They were wealthy men, and the poor and un- 
fortunate had often been relieved by their quiet and unobtrusive 
acts of benevolence. Ardently beloved, both in Canada and 
the United States, their melancholy fate served to excite the 
public mind still more against the government which had slain 
them. 

Mr. Charles Durand gives the following account of the last days 
of these noble martyrs, which is confirmed by Doctor Theller, 
both of these gentlemen being confined in the same prison, under 
sentence of death : " Matthews always bore up in spirits well. 
He was, until death, firm in his opinion of the justice of the 
cause he had espoused. He never recanted. He was ironed 
and kept in the darkest cell in the prison, like a murderer. He 
slept sometimes in blankets that were wet and frozen. He had 
nothing to cheer him but the approbation of his companions and 
his conscience. Lount was ironed, though kept in a better 
room. He used to tell us often, in writing, not to be downcast ; 
that he believed * Canada would yet be free,' and that we were 
' contending in a good cause.' He said he was not sorry for 
what he had done, and that he w^ould do so again. This was his 
mind until death. Lount was a social and excellent companion, 
and a well-informed man. He sometimes spoke to us under the 
sill of our door. He did so on the morning of his execution ! 
He bid us * farewell ! ' and said he was on his way to another 
world. He was calm. The gallows was erected just before our 
window grates. We could see all plainly. The martyrs as- 
cended the platform with unfaltering steps, like men. Lount 
turned his head to his friends, as if to say a ' long farewell ! ' He 
and Matthews knelt and prayed, and were then launched into 
eternity. O ! the horror of our feelings ! Who can describe 
our emotions ! " 



41 



CHAPTER IV. 



Organization of Patriot Lodges — Burning of the Sir Robert 
Peel — Scheme to liberate the Niagara Prisoners — Prepara- 
tions for the Attach on Prescott — Embarkation at Sackett's 
Harbor — Desertion — Unsuccessful Attempt to land at 
Prescott — Going ashore at Windmill Point — Our Flag 
unfurled — A Naval Exploit — Supper at a Farm-House — 
Colonel Von Shoultz appointed Commander-in-Chief 

Sometime in the month of May, a Mr. Estabrooks, of Cleve- 
land, Ohio, came to Watertovvn and instituted a secret society, 
or lodge, on the same plan as those previously established at 
Cleveland and other places. These lodges were designed to 
promote union and concert of action among the friends of Cana- 
dian independence. I was admitted a member the first night. 
Very soon our lodge numbered nineteen hundred members. Some 
of our members went into the neighboring towns and organized 
other lodges, and in a short time they were formed in nearly 
every town in that region. Similar societies existed in Canada. 

On the night of the 29th of May, the British steamer Sir 
Robert Peel, owned principally by Judge Jones, of Brockville, a 
rank tory, was seized by a party of Canadian refugees and Amer- 
icans, at Wells' Island, and destroyed by fire, the crew and pas- 
sengers first being ordered on shore. According to the testimony 
of the passengers, the attacking party manifested no disposition 
to plunder or to take life. They were painted and disguised as 
Indians. Judge Jones, the owner of the boat, had rendered 
himself odious in the view of all except inveterate tories, by the 
severity of his treatment of the patriots. He had counselled the 
burning of their buildings and the confiscation of their property, 
and when they were brought before him for trial he exerted all 
his power to send them to the gallows. 

The destruction of this boat was the act of a few individuals, 
and the patriots, as a body, were not responsible for it. It was 
done, probably, in retaliation for the burning of the Caroline, 
though no lives were taken, the " Indians " not being so savage 
as the loyal miscreants of Queen Victoria. Lord Durham, Gov- 
ernor-General of the Canadas, offered a reward of $4,000 for the 
apprehension of any one concerned. The ofTence having been 



42 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

committed in the State of New York, the offenders could only 
be brought to punishment before her judicial tribunals. Several 
persons were arrested and tried at Watertown, but were acquit- 
ted for want of proof. The event served still more to inflame 
the public mind on both sides of the line. 

Early in August, sixteen persons were tried at Niagara, Upper 
Canada, and condemned to be hung on the 25th of that month. 
Several of them were Americans, who had taken part in the fight 
at the Short Hills, in the Niagara district, on the 21st of June. 
Linus W. Miller, a young lawyer, from Stockton, Chautauqua 
county, N. Y., was one of them. At one of our lodge meetings 
a prominent member told me he had made arrangements for a 
party of men, from Syracuse, to meet him at Oswego, for the pur- 
pose of going over to liberate these prisoners, and he wished me 
to accompany them, which I cheerfully consented to do. We 
had a band of fifty brave and noble spirits engaged for the en- 
terprise. We went by different routes, but all met at Youngs- 
town, on the American side of Niagara River, a distance of 150 
miles from Watertown. Our men were all promptly on the 
ground, and we had every thing in readiness to cross the river, 
which was to be done in the night. 

Before the appointed time for crossing had arrived, however, 
news came that the sentence of the prisoners had been commuted 
to transportation for life to Van Dieman's Land, and that they 
had been removed to Fort Henry, at Kingston. The prisoners 
received notice of the commutation of their sentence on the 22d, 
three days before their execution was to have taken place. The 
next day they were removed, chained and handcuffed, to Fort 
Henry, the strongest fortress in Canada, except that at Quebec. 
Their removal had put them out of our reach, and we disbanded 
and returned to our respective homes. I afterwards had an op- 
portunity to cultivate an acquaintance with some of these men, 
at Van Dieman's Land, where they arrived a short time before 
me, and where we suffered alike the captive's awful doom. 

About this time, a plan was maturing in our lodge meetings 
for another attempt to hoist the patriot standard on the soil of 
Canada. It was at first understood that the expedition was to 
start in November, and go by way of Cleveland, where it would 
be joined by a large force raised in that vicinity. At a meeting 
of the leaders or officers, at Watertown, General Estes proposed 
that instead of going to Cleveland, we should go down the St. 
Lawrence and land at Prescott, a small town opposite Ogdens- 
burgh. There was considerable difference of opinion as to the 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 43 

best plan, but the majority finally adopted the proposition of 
General Estes. It was said that 5,000 men, including 500 Po- 
landers from the city of New York, had pledged themselves to 
be ready for this movement. Thousands of Canadians, it was 
reported, were anxious to join us, and would do so as soon as 
an opportunity should be offered them. 

It had originally been agreed that our men should assemble at 
Sackett's Harbor, on the 5th of November, and take passage on 
board the steamer United States, Captain Van Cleave, a regular 
packet boat, running between Oswego and Ogdensburgh. The 
arrangements not being completed, we did not embark until the 
11th. Some five or six hundred men arrived at Sackett's Har- 
bor on the 5th, and after remaining there several days, returned 
to their homes. Thus much we lost by bad management at the 
outset. 

About noon, on the 11th of November, the steamer United 
Stales again touched at Sackett's Harbor. Colonel Martin 
Woodruff, of Salina, was on board, and met me on the wharf. I 
inquired if he had with him the 500 Polanders from New York. 
He replied that only six of them had come. I then asked how 
many men he had, in all. He said about 160. I told him our 
scheme would fail ; that we should be defeated. He said he was 
aware of it, and added, " I can't back out, neither can you. We 
must go and do our best. I had rather be shot than to back out 
now." I assured him I should go at any rate ; that I had rather 
die than be branded as a coward ; and that whatever might be 
the issue, we ought to meet it like men fighting in a good cause. 

In all we had about 400 men on board when we left Sackett's 
Harbor. Colonel Woodruff gave me an introduction to Colonel 
Von Shoultz, a Polander, who afterwards, as the sequel will 
show, became our chosen leader. He was a gentleman of fine 
personal appearance and pleasing address. Of his bravery and 
heroism I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 

Our force was considerably augmented at Cape Vincent, 
French Creek, and Milieu's Bay. At the latter place we found 
two schooners, loaded with provisions, arms, and ammunition, 
intended for our use. They had sailed from Oswego a few days 
before, and had on board between one and two hundred men. 
The United States towed these schooners down the river, one 
being lashed on each side. 

Our design was to attack Fort Wellington, at Prescott. A 
few miles above that place the schooners were to be detached 
from the steamer, after having taken on board all the men, and 



44 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

then to drift down to the wharf, where one hundred picked men, 
headed by Colonel Von Shoultz, were to land and attack the 
fort. I was to have been one of the party. 

At the appointed place, it then being past midnight, the 
schooners were cut adrift. At this point we were deserted by a 
large portion of the men, who refused to go on board the schoon- 
ers, but proceeded on the steamboat to Ogdensburgh. Only 
200, when the time of trial came, proved true. The schooners 
were lashed together, and glided down the river with the current. 
As we touched the wharf, John Cronkhite jumped ashore to 
make fast. The current was so strong that the line broke, and 
we drifted by the landing. The sentry on the wharf fired his 
gun and fled. It was quite dark, which produced some confu- 
sion. Cronkhite succeeded in getting on board again. He was 
a man of few words, but ever ready in action. After our escape 
from Van Dieman's Land, he went to the Sandwich Islands, and 
from thence to Oregon. Since then I have not heard from him. 

There being no wind, we drifted down the river about one 
mile and a half, and then one of the schooners got aground on a 
bar. The other was anchored near by. 

General J. W. Birge had been intrusted with the command 
of this expedition. He had been at Ogdensburgh for two or three 
days, under pretence of perfecting the arrangements. On the 
morning of the 12th, while the schooners were in the situation 
just described, he came along side of us in a small boat, but did 
not come on board. I asked him what was to be done. He 
said we must go ashore, and get the cannon ashore as quick as 
possible. He then pulled for Ogdensburgh, and I have never 
seen the coward since. The last I heard of him, he was sick 
with a complaint vulgarly called the belly-ache. 

The schooners were about half a mile from the shore at Wind- 
mill Point. Colonel Von Shoultz and eight or ten others, in- 
cluding myself, were in the first boat that touched the shore. 
We took possession of a stone windmill, six stories high, to the 
top of which we nailed our flag. This flag was presented to 
Colonel Von Shoultz by the patriotic ladies of Onondaga county. 
It had an eagle and two stars, wrought on a ground of blue, and 
was a very neat and beautiful specimen of woman's handiwork. 
As it was unfurled to the breeze, from the summit of the mill, 
it was hailed with enthusiastic cheers. That flag we never 
struck. After we surrendered, it was secured by the British 
officers, and sent to London, where one of our number has since 
seen it in the celebrated Tower, among the trophies taken on 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 45 

many a bloody field of battle. It is not boasting to say, that 
among all those relics of war, collected from every quarter of the 
globe, not one was secured at greater cost, considering the small 
force we had to defend it, than the patriot flag taken at the bat- 
tle of Prescott. 

Situated within one hundred rods of the mill were three stone 
houses and two wooden ones. We took possession of the stone 
buildings. Under the direction of Von Shoultz, we fortified the 
mill, by building a substantial stone wall, six feet high, on the 
side fronting the open field. 

We succeeded in getting on shore, from one of the schooners, 
three pieces of cannon, a quantity of provisions, arms, and am- 
munition, after which the vessel was seized by the authorities 
of the United States. The other schooner still remained aground 
on the bar. 

In the course of the forenoon, the British steamer Experiment, 
with a company of marines on board, came down from Prescott, 
to take the schooner. Captain Sandum — who was chief in com- 
mand of the British naval force on the lakes and rivers — as soon 
as he got within hailing distance, ordered those on board the 
schooner to go below and surrender. No attention was paid to 
his order, and the steamer continued on her course. Mr. Tif- 
fany, an experienced gunner, had a loaded cannon mounted on a 
pair of low wheels, ready to fire, before Captain Sandum was 
near enough to discover it. When he saw the cannon, he gave 
orders to put the boat about. Just as the steamer presented a 
broadside, Mr. O. W. Smith succeeded in touching off the can- 
non, which sent a ball whizzing into the very midst of the crowd 
of men on the deck of the steamer. We afterwards learned that 
six men were killed, and seven wounded, by that little cannon 
ball. The steamer immediately returned to Prescott, This 
successful naval exploit, at the commencement of hostilities, we 
regarded as a favorable omen. 

The discharge of the cannon started the schooner off the bar, 
and she was then run into Ogdensburgh, on the opposite side of 
the river. Eventually she was seized by officers of the United 
States, and we lost all the arms and provisions on board. Mr. 
Smith and some others came over to us in small boats. 

In the afternoon, we mustered our men, and found they num- 
bered less than two hundred. 

Just before night Bill Johnson came over from Ogdensburgh 
in one of his boats, stopped a short time, and then returned. He 
was armed with a rifle, bowie knife, and pistols. He assured us 



46 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HEUSTIS. 

that he should be over again in the morning, with a number of 
men, and should remain with us. But I never saw him after 
that time. 

At night, after our sentries had been placed, four of us went 
to a farm-house, about half a mile distant, and asked the lady 
if she could provide us a supper. She said she could, and im- 
mediately set about it. After supper, I asked her what was to 
pay. She said, " Nothing." I left the money on the table, and 
we departed. We had strict orders not to take any thing with- 
out paying for it, and in all cases to protect women and children. 
Previous to our trial, this woman was taken to Kingston, to see 
if she could identify any of us. She recognized me very readily, 
but when she told the inquisitors of my leaving the money, after 
she had declined taking it, they concluded they had no farther 
occasion for her testimony, and she was sent home, never more 
to be called as a witness against us. 

In the evening, finding ourselves deserted by General Birge, 
we elected Colonel Nicholas Augustus Sultuskie Von Shoultz 
our commander-in-chief, without a dissenting vote. He accepted 
the command, and made a brief address, in which he avowed his 
willingness to serve us in any capacity in which he could be use- 
ful, and exhorted us to be true to the noble cause of liberty. 

Colonel John Kimball was appointed aid to Colonel Von 
Shoultz. But, discretion being "the better part of valor," John 
deemed it prudent to make a retreat, the next morning, to his 
home in Jefferson county, where it is understood he arrived in 
safety, with no damage except tired legs. 

A scouting party was kept out all night, to report the first 
approach of an enemy. 

During that night, in which no eye slept, we could but realize 
that our situation was one of extreme peril. In regard to the 
number expected to join us, we had been wofully disappointed, 
and of those who had started with us, a large majority had ignobly 
deserted. Our leaders had also proved traitors and cowards. 
We had lost much of our ammunition. Our position was exposed 
to attack, both by land and water, by a force vastly larger than 
we could muster. Amid all these unfavorable circumstances, 
foreboding almost certain defeat, there was no repining, no wa- 
vering, no flinching from the contest, on the part of the resolute 
and heroic band of young men at Windmill Point. A braver 
company never shouldered muskets. ^ 



47 



CHAPTER V. 

Approach of the British — Unprotected Females shot — Battle 
OF Prescott — Hard Fighting — Deaths of Phillips, Brown, 
Butterfield, and Johnson — Capture of Daniel George and 
others — Wheelock and Finney loounded — A Stormy Night — 
Sufferings of the Wounded — The Dead on the Field of Bat- 
tle — A Visit from Ogdenshurgh — Attempt to remove the 
Wounded — Aji Escape — Ai'mistice for burying the Dead — 
The Enemy reinforced — Their Compliments returned — In- 
terference of U. S. Officers — The Surrender. 

On the morning of the 13th of November, 1838, the sun rose 
clear and the sky was cloudless. A little after sunrise, we 
saw the long line of British soldiers leave Prescott, on their way 
to attack us. Soon after, three armed steamboats came down the 
river, from Prescott, and anchored opposite the windmill. The 
soldiers approached us obliquely, until they arrived in front of our 
position, about three-fourths of a mile distant, and then marched 
directly upon us. Nothing daunted by the imposing appear- 
ance of the enemy, we rallied and formed a line, about twenty 
rods northwest of the mill, in an open field of fifteen or twent} 
acres. A small guard was left in charge of the buildings, making 
our force in the field only about 180. The enemy consisted of 
the 83d regiment of regulars, under Colonel Dundas, and 900 
volunteers, under Colonel Frazer, in all amounting to about 
1700. The 83d regiment occupied the centre of their line, 
which was formed two or three deep. 

On the approach of the British troops, a woman and her 
daughter, eighteen or twenty years old, who lived in one of the 
houses near the windmill, left their home to go into the country, 
to a place of safety. When the fiendish ^soldiers came within 
shooting distance of these unprotected females, they fired upon 
them, killing the mother, and badly wounding the daughter in 
the jaw. This unprovoked and barbarous act of cruelty would 
have disgraced a band of savages. In the course of the next 
winter, while we were imprisoned in Fort Henry, the daughter 
visited us, in company with some friends, and her face was still 
bandaged up, in consequence of the wound she had received. 

Our line was formed with a space of two or three yards be- 



48 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

tween the men, so as to cover the enemy's front. We marched 
toward the enemy, until we were within about thirty rods of 
their line, when the firing was commenced, and soon became 
sharp on both sides. On our side every man loaded and fired as 
fast as he could, and for more than three hours we maintain- 
ed our ground, and poured an effectual shower of bullets into 
the serried ranks of that hostile army. The crack of our rifles 
and muskets made one continuous roar, and we could perceive 
the enemy falling at every discharge. Never did experienced 
veterans fight with more coolness, precision, and dauntless 
bravery ; and it is useless for me to undertake to eulogize the 
patriotic young men who thus stood before ten times their num- 
ber of well-disciplined British soldiers, and for upwards of three 
hours returned their fire with deadly effect, without the least in- 
clination to abandon the field. Neither shall I attempt to do 
justice to the gallant hero who led our little band forth to meet 
the Goliaths of Britain. His noble bearing in that hour of con- 
flict added new lustre and brightness to the halo of glory which 
surrounds the memory of Poland's unfortunate sons. His name 
shall be written on the scroll of fame, while the tyrants of the 
world are consigned to oblivion.* 

After standing before our galling fire as long as they thought 
prudent, the enemy retreated over a rise of ground. We follow- 
ed up the retreat, until we discovered a movement to flank us on 
the right and left, made with a view to cut off our retreat to the 
stone buildings. This movement was partly successful. Thirty- 
three of our men were thus cut off and taken prisoners. This 
was a serious loss, as it took about one sixth of our force. Our 
commander. Colonel Von Shoultz, then ordered a retreat to the 
windmill. The enemy, flushed with their success in taking the 
prisoners, rallied again, and made a desperate but unsuccessful 
attempt to drive us from our stronghold, the fortified stone build- 
ings. They were effectually repulsed. 

Before we abandoned the open field, and while in pursuit of 
the enemy, as they retreated behind the rising ground, a musket 
ball was shot through the body of Captain James Phillips, of Og- 
densburgh, killing him instantly. Captain John Thomas, who 
was fighting by his side, has since related to me the particulars 
of his death. Captain Phillips was advancing at the head of his 
men, and was within a few rods of the 83d regiment, urging on 
his followers, who were pouring a brisk and deadly fire into the 

* A spirited engraving of this battle-scene fronts the title-page. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 49 

ranks of the enemy, when a ball struck him, and he fell dead on 
the spot. He had been a wealthy farmer in Canada, and had 
lived not many miles from the spot where he fell. Eight or ten 
months previous to the time of his death he had been compelled 
to leave Canada, on account of his attachment to the principles 
of liberty. His fate was deeply regretted by thousands who had 
known his worth. His age was thirty-eight, and he left a family 
to mourn his loss. He was brave and fearless in the fight, and 
his name and deeds will long live in the memory of freedom's 
votaries. 

On our retreat to the buildings, I saw one of my comrades fall, 
only a short distance from me. At first I thought it was Colonel 
Woodruff. I went to the spot where he lay, and ascertained it 
was Charles E. Brown. I turned him over, and saw that he was 
expiring. He was pierced with two balls, one through the head, 
and the other through the breast. I was obliged to leave the 
body on the field. The report that it was burned in a barn is 
not true. He belonged to Brownville, Jefferson county, and was 
a nephew of General Brown, a distinguished officer in the last 
war. He was a fine young man, being only about twenty-four 
years old, and his early death was a severe affliction to his parents 
and friends. The bereaved mother, I have been told, lamented 
his fall with that deep and inconsolable feeling of sorrow which 
none but a mother can experience. 

During the engagement, Nelson Butterfield was severely wound- 
ed in the body. His comrades bore him to the mill, where he 
lay twelve or fourteen hours, in the most excruciating agony, and 
then death came to his relief, every attention having been paid 
to him which our circumstances would permit. He was from 
Philadelphia, Jefferson county, and belonged to a highly respect- 
able family. His age was about twenty-two years. He fought 
bravely, and met his fate with heroic fortitude. 

The road leading from Prescott to Johnstown ran parallel with 
the river, in front of the windmill. Below the road, four or five 
rods from the mill, on a small eminence, we had placed a can- 
non, divested of drag ropes, to decoy the enemy into an attempt 
to take it. It was designedly stationed so that its captors would 
encounter a raking and destructive fire from the stone buildings, 
where our men were securely posted. Lieutenant Johnson, of 
the 83d regiment, advanced into the road, about twenty rods 
above the mill, with a company of fifty or sixty men, and bravely 
attempted to lead them up to the assault. H6 was considerably 
in advance of his company, rushing toward the prize, and calling 
3 



5li CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTfRKS OF 

upon his men to foll<^w, when he was shot dead, receiving tliree 
balls in his body. His followers then retreated Avith all possible 
speed, but nearly the whole company were cut down by our 
sharp-sliooting riflemen. 

It has since been charged upon us, in British papers, that we 
mutilated the body of Lieutenant Johnson, after his death. This 
charge is totally false, ilis body, it is true, was left on the 
ground. We had no means of burying the dead, and from the 
constant firing kept up, it was impossible, in most instances, to 
remove the bodies from the field. In the course of the day, 
some hogs, running loose in the road, were seen molesting the 
remains of Lieutenant Johnson. Colonel Von Shoultz imme- 
diately ordered the hogs shot. No indignity was offered to the 
body by any of our men. His sword was taken by L. L. Leach, 
as he passed the body in going from the mill to one of the houses. 
Colonel Von Shoultz presented the sword to me, saying that my 
conduct in the action had merited it. I left it in the mill, when 
we surrendered, where it undoubtedly fell into the hands of our 
captors. 

From the steamboats on the river, cannon balls and shells 
were fired upon us in the principal engagement, and at intervals 
during the day, but not with much effect. These boats would 
occasionally return to Prescott, and for a short time leave the 
river clear. During one of these intervals, Mr. Daniel George, 
with three or four ethers, atteujpted to cross the river to Ogdens- 
burgh, in a small boat, after hospital stores for the wounded, 
which were very much needed. No sooner did they make their 
appearance on the water than the steamer Experiment started 
from Prescott in pursuit. Having nothing but pieces of board 
to paddle across v.ith, the Experiujent overtook them before they 
reached the opposite shore, but not before they were in American 
waters. A company of marines, on board the Experiment, com- 
pletely riddled the boat with bullet holes, but no injury was done 
to those in it. Tiiey were ordered on board the Experiment. 
As they went on deck, William Gates, of Cape Vincent, was 
struck on the side of the head, by a stout negro, with such vio- 
lence as to prostrate him. The steamer then put back to Pres- 
cott, and the prisoners were confined in Fort Wellington. 

Among the wounded, in the first day's fight, were two young 
inen from Watertown, named Munroe Wheelock and Lorenzo 
E. Finney. They were machinists, worked together, and had 
both enlisted at the same time. Wheelock received a severe 
wound in the thigh. He was standing almost directly behind 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 51 

me at the time, and the ball which struck him pierced my coat 
on the left side. I bound up his wound with a handkerchief, as 
well as I could, and carried him to one of the stone houses and 
laid him upon some hay, where he remained four days, in great 
distress, which we could do nothing to alleviate. Of his treat- 
ment after our surrender, and the suspicious circumstances at- 
tending his death in the hospital, I will speak hereafter. 

His companion, Finney, was shot through the body, but not 
mortally wounded. He was carried to one of the stone buildings, 
where he remained till the next morning, when he was removed 
to the mill, for better accommodations. Here I did every thing 
in my power to render his situation as comfortable as possible. 
Previously, we had not been on very intimate terms of friend- 
ship ; but when I saw a brave comrade in distress, all thought 
of past difficulties was at once annihilated, and I was led to feel 
a deep interest in his fate, and much anxiety to relieve his suf- 
ferings. He was heroic and daring on the field of battle, and 
after being wounded requested his companions, if he died, to tell 
his friends he did not die a coward. His age was twenty-one 
years. His removal to Kingston, recovery, and final discharge, 
I shall allude to hereafter. 

In the afternoon, there was no general engagement, but there 
was a constant firing between the scouting parties, from be- 
hind the walls and trees in our vicinity. The main body of the 
enemy kept out of our reach, but small detachments of men were 
constantly reconnoitering our position, and whenever they ap- 
proached within gun-shot of the buildings, or of the men who 
had taken position behind the trees and walls, they were sure to 
meet with a warm reception. 

When night set in, a cold storm of sleet and snow had com- 
menced, and was increasing in violence. This added much to 
the cheerless and desolate prospect before us, and served to ren- 
der the situation of the wounded still more uncomfortable. We 
had no fires, no beds, no suitable covering for the unfortunate 
sufferers. They had nothing but a couch of hay, on which to 
pass the tedious hours. Amid all the hopeless circumstances 
with which we were surrounded, our greatest anxiety was for the 
relief and comfort of these suffering comrades. It would be im- 
possible to describe their melancholy condition. They endured 
their pains with manly fortitude, and with very little complaint. 
An occasional sigh or groan was heard, which filled our hearts 
with agony. There was little opportunity or disposition to sleep 
that night. Yet, all things considered, our gallant little band 



52 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

exhibited great courage and cheerfulness. There was no fear or 
quailing manifested. We felt conscious of having struck a blow 
in the cause of freedom, which, if not completely successful, 
would at least save us from the disgraceful reputation of being 
afraid of the British lion. With all the dark prospect before us, 
we had no anxiety to exchange situations with the cowards who 
had deserted before they got within sight of the enemy, and who 
had that day stood upon the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, 
to cheer us on in the fight ! We knew that 

" Freedom's battle, once begun, 
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son. 
Though bajBled oft, is always won." 

The morning of the 14th, (Wednesday,) dawned upon us in 
gloom and sadness. Constant excitement, severe toil, scanty 
provisions, and loss of rest and sleep, had been our experience 
ever since we left Sackett's Harbor. We began to feel the bad 
effects arising from such long-continued exertions and privations. 
The storm of snow and rain continued to beat upon us with its 
desolating fury. The broad field before us was thickly strewed 
with the bodies of the dead, over which the storm had spread a 
covering of snow, which was their only shroud. Hundreds thus 
lay exposed to the "peltings of the pitiless etorm," yet they were 
all resting in the quiet sleep of death ! Their race was run ! 
Their eyes were forever closed upon the world ! Friends and 
enemies were all alike to them ! The sight of such a battle- 
field is well calculated to awaken peculiar emotions. My pen 
is inadequate to portray the scene. 

The first demonstration against us, on the second day, was 
from several floating batteries on the river, which opened a brivsk 
cannonade on the buildings. Almost simultaneously a battery 
was opened upon us from the land, in front. The firing contin- 
ued a few hours, without making any impression. The guns 
were not heavy enough to batter down the thick walls by which 
we were protected. 

A company of regulars and volunteers, to the number of 
eighty or more, took possession of a stone house in cur vicinity, 
which enabled them to annoy us considerably. Colonel Von 
Shoultz quickly perceived that the enemy would reap important 
advantages from the occupation of that house, and he determined 
to dislodge them. With a detachment of eleven men, and a 
small cannon, he went out to attack the house. The occupants, 
when they saw our intrepid leader approaching, with his handful 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 53 

of men, retreated through the back door, and decamped, in double 
quick time. The front door of the house being fastened, Solo- 
mon Reynolds and John Thomas were the first to break through 
it. In their hasty flight, the enemy left Joseph Norris, one of 
our men, whom they had previously secured as a prisoner. Not 
having any men to spare, to fortify the house. Colonel Von 
Shoultz ordered it to be set on fire. It belonged to a tory, 
named Frazer. 

As on the previous day, there was a scattering fire kept up 
between the outposts, but nothing of special importance trans- 
pired before night. 

In the evening, a boat came over from Ogdensburgh, and two 
or three men came on shore. They had an interview with 
Colonel Von Shoultz, and asked him which he would prefer, a 
boat to take us away, or a reinforcement of 600 men. The 
gallant reply was, " Send us 600 men, and we will get away our- 
selves." Our commander intreated them to send over a boat to 
take away the wounded. This they agreed to do, and said we 
had better carry them down to the shore, that there might be no 
delay in getting them on board. According to request, we con- 
veyed the wounded to the water's edge, where they remained 
two or three hours, unsheltered from the cold storm, waiting the 
arrival of the boat. While they were lying in this condition, the 
steamer Paul Pry approached as near the shore as she could, 
safely, there being danger of getting aground. In letting off 
steam she made a great noise, which being heard at Prescott, the 
British steamers immediately came down the river, and the Paul 
Pry paddled into Ogdensburgh, in desperate haste. On whom 
the blame of this bad management ought to rest, I have not the 
means of deciding. 

With heavy hearts we carried the wounded back to the mill. 
I will leave the reader to imagine with what feelings they were 
again transferred to their uncomfortable pallets. They had in- 
dulged the delusive hope of being taken to the opposite shore, 
where they would have been warmly greeted, and where their 
wounds would have been properly dressed, and every effort which 
friendship and sympathy could devise, would have been made to 
alleviate their sufferings. But, alas ! they were doomed to dis- 
appointment. The cup of bitterness was not yet full. 

The 600 men who were to come to our assistance, if they ever 
started must have taken a circuitous route, for we have never 
yet seen them. A wise discretion probably kept their ardor 
cooled down. They might have read of the renowned exploit 



54 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

of Don Quixotte de la Mancha, in attacking a windmill, and 
learned from it a useful moral, namely, to keep out of the way 
of all such hideous-looking objects. And, as a reward for their 
prudence, like the faithful squire, Sancho Panza, each one of 
them ought to be made governor of an island. The " Thousand 
Isles" in the St. Lawrence, would afford them an ample field to 
display their valor. 

On Thursday, the 15th, in the afternoon, the enemy received 
some thirty-two pounders, from Kingston, with which to renew 
the cannonade on our stone buildings. Before they got them 
on to the ground, however, we killed one of their wheel horses 
with a cannon ball, and cut away the whiffletree, at which the 
leaders became frightened, and ran away. The attempt to get 
the guns on to the field, that night, was then abandoned. 

This was the third day we had held out against the enemy. 
Yet no succor came. We still fought on, with no intention of 
surrendering, so long as we had ammunition and provisions. 

Thursday night our force consisted of only 117 men able for 
service, as was ascertained by actual count. 

A proposition was made to me, at this time, by two men who 
had determined to cross the river, in an old canoe they had 
found, to go with them, as they could carry one more. I de- 
clined the offer, in the presence of my comrades, and they took 
another man, and the three escaped. I did not blame them. 
They had fought well, and seeing no other chance of escape, and 
no prospect of doing any good if they remained, they decided 
to retreat. I had induced several brave young men to join in 
this hazardous enterprise, and I would not forsake them. I pre- 
ferred to stay and share their fortunes. 

On Friday morning, the 16th, the steamboats came down from 
Prescott, and made another attempt to batter down the windmill 
and other stone buildings ; and the thirty-two pounders, on the 
field, also opened upon us a vigorous and heavy cannonade. 
This firing was kept up till one o'clock, in the afternoon, but with 
no perceptible effect. 

At one o'clock, a white flag was seen approaching us. Leman 
L. Leach was sent out to meet it. The enemy asked for one 
hour's cessation of firing, which was granted. During the ar- 
mistice, we mingled freely with the British soldiers, on the field, 
collecting the bodies of the dead. In removing the bodies, it 
was no uncommon thing for the enemy to assist ns, and for us, 
in return, to assist them. While thus engaged. Colonel Frazer, 
of the volunteers, communicated with some of our men by the 



CAPTAIN DANIKL D. HEUSTIS. 55 

secret signs used in our lodges, he having been a member in 
Canada. He said, in my hearing, that if we had come with as 
strong a force as was expected, he should have joined us with 
500 men ; but, as it was, he was compelled to fight us with 900. 

Two of the enemy's wounded men, one of tiiem a brother to 
Colonel Frazer, were picked up and brought to our head-quar- 
ters, where we paid them all the attention in our power. Colonel 
Von Shoultz sent word to their commander to come and get 
them, as we had not the means of dressing their wounds. They 
were accordingly removed to their own camp. 

When the hour was out the firing was renewed by the enemy. 
Colonel Dundas had then received a reinforcement of another 
regiment from Kingston, making the whole force brought into 
the field against us, as near as can be ascertained, not far from 
2G00, besides the armed steamboats and floating batteries on the 
river. 

We had now fired away all our cannon-balls. In this emer- 
gency we contrived to load our pieces, a few times, with links 
of chains and scraps of old iron. The enemy were so very ac- 
commodating as to send us, occasionally, a ball whicJi exactly 
fitted our six-pounder. We lost no time in returning all such 
compliments to the British, and invariably ** gave them as good 
as they sent." Our brave boys did not wait for that ball to stop 
rolling, before they started in pursuit of it ; and we hurled it back 
with more precision and effect than it had been sent to us. In 
some instances we couhl perceive that it did good execution. 

The steamboat Telegraph, with Colonel Worth and two com- 
panies of United States troops on board, was constantly cruising 
up and down the river, to prevent any succor from reaching us. 
In fact, every possible exertion had been made, by the United 
States authorities, to thwart and defeat us. In view of the out- 
rageous insults we had received, as a nation, from the British 
tories in Canada, we did think this extreme vigilance, on the 
part of the United States government, in harassing the friends 
of Canadian liberty, altogether unworthy of republican America 
Had the poor Malays, or the barbarous inhabitants of some re- 
mote island, or the feeble savage tribes in our southern and 
western wilds, or even the contemptible Mexicans, perpetrated 
an outrage equal in enormity to the burning of the Caroline, 
even though provoked to it by flagrant acts of wrong on our part, 
the whole naval and military force of the country would have 
been in readiness to avenge the insult ! But, in this case, troops 
were sent to the frontier, not to punish our insatiate foe, but to 



56 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

assist her in crusliing the republican spirit vvliich threatened to 
uproot British power in Canada ! 

When Texas rebelled against the government of Mexico, 
thousands of American citizens crossed the lines, and assisted 
in achieving her independence. They went and returned, as 
they pleased, without molestation from tiie government of the 
United States. Yet the contest in Texas was not so much a 
struggle for freedom as that in Canada. 

Hunter C. Vaughn, one of the fearless band at Windmill 
Point, was a son of Captain Vaughn, of the steamer Telegraph. 
He v/ent down to the shore, and seeing his father pacing fore 
and aft on the deck, waved a handkerchief to him. The father 
recognized his son, but could do nothing for him ! His boat was 
in the service of the United States ! It was with the greatest 
difficulty, as we afterwards learned, that the troops could be re- 
strained from rushing to our assistance. 

Towards night. Colonel Abbey, in view of our exhau.sted and 
critical situation, went to Colonel Von Shoultz and advised a 
surrender. Our commander told him to do as he thought best, 
himself, but by no means to encourage others to lay down their 
arras. Colonel Abbey then returned to the mill, and told the 
men not to surrender, but to hold out till the last moment, in 
the hope of receiving assistance. He then went to the enemy 
and surrendered. He afterwards averred that his object in so 
doing was to save the lives of the brave and gallant young men. 
He said he told the enemy what commission he held, and did 
not expect to save himself. But, however good the motive may 
have been, this step on the part of Colonel Abbey was a very un- 
fortunate one. It made the enemy acquainted with our situation, 
and produced an unfavorable effect upon our men. It is my 
opinion that we should have held out some time longer, if the 
course of Colonel Abbey had been different. 

About four o'clock, the British force, at the sound of the bu- 
gle, advanced in solid columns, with the evident intention of 
storming our fortress. A consultation was then held by the offi- 
cers in the mill, not including Colonel Von Shoultz, who was 
defending one of the houses. It was thought by some that farther 
resistance would be in vain, and that many lives might be saved 
by a surrender. Others were for holding out longer. It was 
finally agreed to send out a flag of truce, to know on what terms 
Colonel Dundas would receive our surrender. This flag was 
borne by Colonel Woodruff, accompanied by myself and two 
others. We had not proceeded more than four or five rods be- 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IlEUSTIS. 57 

fore we were fired upon. We then returned to the mill. The 
murderous disposition evinced by the enemy, in firing upon un- 
armed men, bearing a white flag, was well calculated to arouse 
feelings of indignation in every generous bosom; for, only a few 
hours before, they had sent a similar flag to us, which had been 
respected. 

Still, considering our entire destitution of cannon-balls, and 
the overpowering force that surrounded us, it was thought by 
many that no effectual resistance could much longer be main- 
tained. After discussing the matter a short time, a general sur- 
render was reluctantly decided upon. We then marched out of 
the mill, in a body, still holding out the white flag. 

When Captain Sandum, commanding on the river, saw our 
white flag fired upon, he immediately landed his men, with the 
determination, as he afterwards testified on our trial, if the act 
had been repeated, of firing upon those who committed the out- 
rage. We surrendered to him, and the 83d regiment then open- 
ing to the right and left, we were marched in between the lines 
and surrounded. We were very soon robbed of our money, 
watches, caps, clothes, and every thing our ferocious captors 
could lay their hands upon, leaving some half naked, while every 
kind of insult was offered to us. 

Alexander Wright, a Canadian by birth, but who had been 
living at Ogdensburgh, refused to surrender, saying he knew 
the gallows would be his fate. He was instantly shot down, and 
stabbed through the heart with bayonets. John Morrisett, be- 
longing to Lower Canada, was stabbed in the side with a bay- 
onet, and cut on the shoulder with a sword, but not mortally 
wounded. 

The following extract from a letter, written by Colonel Von 
Shoultz, while in Fort Henry, to J. R. Parker, Esq., of Oswego, 
will show how nobly he maintained his ground to the last: — 

** Friday, at about mid-day, a parley came from the British, 
for the purpose of taking away the killed that remained on the 
field, and I delivered over to him the British wounded I had 
taken up, as I had no medical stores of any kind, and it would 
have been a base and unmanly policy to augment the sufferings 
of the wounded enemy. One hour's cessation of hostilities was 
granted, for burying our dead; but, having no shovels, we could 
not do it. When the time was out, the British steamers came 
down with heavy artillery, and the battle began. As I could get 
no one to take the defence of the house on our left flank, I went 
there myself with ten men. As I had suspected, that house was 
3* 



58 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIxN HEUSTIS. 

most Strenuously attacked. From the situation of the house, I 
was not able to see how it went on in the other houses and the 
mill. We must have been surrounded by at least two thousand 
men, and a detachment of the 83d regiment. My whole num- 
ber of men, when this last battle began, was one hundred and 
eight. I kept my position, though the roof crumbled to pieces 
over our heads, by the British fire from their artillery, until dark, 
when I was informed that all had surrendered. I also then sur- 
rendered. I was stripped to the shirt sleeves by the militia. I 
lost my watch, trunk, money, and the clothing I had on. 

" We are tried by court-martial ! I have had my trial ; am 
prepared for death." 

All the buildings we had occupied, except the windmill, were 
immediately set on fire. That was spared, probably, on account 
of a report we had circulated that a large quantity of powder 
was secreted in it. 

Leonard Root, of Sackett's Harbor, refused to surrender, but 
hid himself in the oven of one of the houses, and perished in the 
flames. 

While the soldiers were setting fire to one of the houses, an 
officer went up stairs, and the flames made such rapid progress 
that he was unable to descend. He went to a window and 
called upon his men to assist him down. They answered, " Yes, 
d — n you, we'll help you down," and instantly shot him dead, 
supposing him to be one of our men. 

Thus ended the battle of Prescott. Four days, from Tuesday 
morning till Friday evening, we stood our ground manfully. 
Having been an humble actor in the scene, I may have already 
transgressed the rules of propriety, in speaking of the heroes of 
that battle. If I had no higher motive than to indulge a vain 
and boasting spirit of self-glorification, it would indeed be wise 
for me to keep silent. But justice has never been done to the 
memory of the gallant Americans who fell on that hard-fought 
field, and it becomes my duty to speak in their behalf, as well 
as in behalf of those who experienced the tortures of a living 
death, in the custody of British tyrants. Doctor Theller, in 
speaking of our little band of warriors, says, " Their gallant 
bearing will live in history. The poets of the age will rehearse 
their deeds. They were an honor to human nature, and a credit 
to the American name." 



59 



CHAPTER VI. 

The March to Prescott — Tortures of the Wotinded — The PaS" 
sage to Kingston — Confinement in Fort Henry — The Nmnes, 
Age, and Residence of the Heroes of Prescott — List of the 
Killed and Wounded — Loss of the Enemy — Money sent to 
the Prisoners by their Friends — Filthy Bread — Robbery — 
Style of Living — A Christmas Present — Trial and Execu- 
tion of Von Shoultz — Incidents in his Romantic Career. 

It was past sundown when we surrendered, and considerable 
time was occupied in making the arrangements for our march to 
Prescott. The robbery, of which I have before spoken, was so 
speedily and effectually done, that very little delay resulted from 
that operation. Never did a band of wild Arabs plunder their 
victims with more ravenous ferocity. 

We were marched in couples, with a line of soldiers, of the 
83d, on each side, to guard us safely. All the wounded who 
could possibly go on foot, with the assistance of their comrades, 
were made to do so. Lorenzo E. Finney, to whom I have be- 
fore alluded, as having been wounded on the first day, was sup- 
ported on one side by his young friend, Charles F. Grossman, 
and on the other by myself He had been robbed of his coat 
and boots, and had lain three days and a half without having his 
wound dressed ; yet he was compelled to walk, through mud and 
snow, the distance of one mile and a half He bore his suffer- 
ings and hard treatment with uncomplaining fortitude. He 
was conveyed to the hospital at Kingston, and was kept in con- 
finement till the next spring, when he was discharged without a 
trial, having nearly recovered from his wound. He is now living 
at Watertown, where I had the pleasure of meeting him after my 
return from captivity. 

Monroe Wheelock, whom I have before mentioned among the 
wounded, was in like manner compelled to walk to Prescott, 
supported by two of his comrades. He was wounded on the first 
day of the siege, and had been in great distress ever since. 
During the march he suffered extreme torture, his wound being 
in the thigh, and his agonizing shrieks would have touched the 
nearts of our captors, if they had not been dead to all the finer 



GO ' C.\rTiViTY AND ADVENTURES OF ' 

feelings of humanity. He lingered a few days in the hospital, at 
Kingston, and then expired. There were some mysterious cir- 
cumstances attending his death, which gave rise to a suspicion, 
in the minds of his room-mates, that he had been poisoned. He 
was a double-jointed man, very strong and muscular, and it was 
conjectured that the physicians wanted his body for anatomical 
purposes. This conjecture was strengthened by the fact that 
when his father went and asked for his body, they refused to give 
it up ! His age was about twenty-three years, and his death was 
deeply lamented. 

We were paraded through the village of Prescott, where the 
lories had their houses illuminated in honor of the great victory. 
In the streets, a vile set of wretches amused themselves with try- 
ing to insult and abuse us. Such is British magnanimity ! The 
meanest of all mean things, is to take advantage of the powerless 
condition of a fallen foe, to needlessly aggravate his sufferings. 

When we had been duly exhibited to the populace of Prescott, 
the next step was to cram us all into the forecastle of a small 
steamboat, which required pretty hard squeezing, the space not 
being sufficient for us to lie or sit down, except a few at a time. 
Here we had the wounded in our midst, and very soon the air 
became exceedingly foul and unwholesome, in consequence of 
being breathed over so many times, unrenewed by ventilation. 
Faintness, headache, and other complaints, were now added to 
extreme exhaustion, both of mind and body. Altogether, our 
situation was such that death would have been a happy relief. 
This, however, was but a foretaste of the sufferings in store for us. 

At the time of the surrender, Colonel Von Shoultz and Cap- 
tain John Thomas escaped to the bank of the river, and con- 
cealed themselves beneath some shrubs, where, after considera- 
ble search, they were discovered by the militia left behind to 
scour the neighborhood. 

Colonel Von Shoultz was known to have been our commander, 
and the vilest treatment was awarded him. His hands were tied 
behind his back, and, amid jeers and scoffs, he was escorted to 
the steamer at Prescott. As he went on board, one of the offi- 
cers told him that he would be hung the next morning, at three 
o'clock. Our hero replied that death hi'd stared him in the face 
quite often, and he would endeavor to secure a little rest, as he 
had had none for four nights. He sat down, with his hands 
still tied behind him, and immediately fell asleep. On waking 
up, at four or five o'clock in the morning, he remarked, with an 
air of indifference, " I declare they must have forgotten me." 



* CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 61 

It is just eight years, to a day, since we left Windmill Point, 
fhat I find myself engaged in writing this page of history. In 
those eight years what indescribable sufferings and hardships I 
have witnessed and experienced ! Far preferable would it have 
been to have fallen on the field of battle, in the thickest of the 
fight, than to have endured the tortures I shall vainly attempt to 
describe in succeeding pages. 

Every man of us was searched, in the hope of finding papers 
that would assist in convicting us. As we had taken the pre- 
caution to destroy all such documents, the search was not very 
successful. I happened to have in one of my pockets, two let- 
ters from Bill Johnson, in one of which he requested me to raise 
fifty men and send them to him, at Grindstone Island. I was 
not aware that I had these letters with me, and in the search 
they were overlooked. The next day, on our passage to Kings- 
ton, I discovered and destroyed them. If these letters had been 
secured, my fate might have been different. 

That night, sitting on the floor, and leaning my back against 
that of a fellow-prisoner, I enjoyed a little of " tired nature's 
sweet restorer, balmy sleep," it being the first time I had thrown 
myself fully into the arms of Morpheus since leaving Sackett's 
Harbor. 

The next morning, Saturday, November 17th, we started for 
Kingston, still being closely imprisoned in the crowded and un- 
wholesome forecastle. Nothing was furnished us to eat until af- 
ternoon, when some half-boiled fresh beef, without a particle of 
salt, bread, or potato, was brought down to us. It was such 
miserable stuff that we could not eat it, notwithstanding we had 
been so long without food. I had eaten nothing but a few hard 
biscuits since Tuesday evening, when I took supper at the farm- 
house, and the sight of this meat made me sick. 

It was about midnight when we arrived at Kingston. We 
were tied together, in couples. Von Shoultz at the head, and a 
rope, passing between us, united us all in the bonds of hemp ! 
In this condition, with a line of soldiers on each side, we were 
marched to Fort Henry, about one mile distant from the landing, 
the band playing Yankee Doodle. During this march we were 
subjected to the foulest abuse from the spectators, pelted with 
clubs, and spit upon with impunity. Our heroic leader was 
struck with a stake on the hip, which caused a lameness from 
which he never recovered. J. H. Martin and myself, being near 
together, were struck by men whom we knew, and who may yet 
liave occasion to repent. 



62 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OI * 

The wounded were sent to the hospital, and the rest of us 
were shut up in three rooms, communicating with each other. 

The next day, in the forenoon, a quarter of beef, weighing 
about 100 pounds, was thrown into our room, with a biscuit for 
each man, there being 105 men to feed. No materials for cut- 
ting up or cooking our meat were furnished us. All our pocket- 
knives had been taken from us, as was supposed, but it so hap- 
pened that J. H. Martin had managed to keep one. It was a 
little, old, Connecticut knife, with a wood handle. As I had 
been a butcher, it devolved upon me, as a matter of etiquette, to 
carve the quarter of beef I endeavored to cut it into as many 
pieces as we had mouths, and then each one took his portion, 
some eating it entirely raw, and others warming theirs on an old 
box stove. This was all we had to eat that day. Queen Victo- 
ria's boarding-house, on the whole, afforded rather poor accom- 
modations. 

On the morning of the 13th, when the battle first commenced, 
we had only 186 men. Four of these ran away without fighting 
at all. Five others, who had fought gallantly, made their escape 
previous to our capture. Their names were Junah Woodruff, 

William Hathaway, Benjamin Fulton, Tracy, and a Poland- 

er, whose name I cannot give. The following is a list of those 
killed and taken prisoners, numbering 177 : — 

Names. -4^e. Residence. 

Samuel Austin, 21 .. Alexandria, Jefferson County. 

Charles Allen, 24 . . Scriba, Oswego " 

David Allen, 37..Volney, " <' 

Philip Alger, — .. Salina, Onondaga " 

Dorethus Abbey, 48 . . Pamelia, Jeiferson «' 

Duncan Anderson, 48 .. Lyme, *' •' 

Orlin Blodget, 19 .. Philadelphia, Jefferson " 

John Bradley, 28 . . Sackett's Harbor, " " 

Thomas Baker, 47 .. Hannibal, Cayuga " 

John Berry, 42 . . Oswego, Oswego »' 

Chauncey Bugby, 22 . . Lyme, Jefferson " 

Hiram Barlow, 19 .. Morristown, St. Law'ce " 

Charles Brown, 20 .. Hastings, Oswego " 

John Brewster, 19 . . Henderson, Jefferson " 

George T. Brown, 23 . . Evans' Mills, " " 

Rouse Bennett, 19 .. Norway, Herkimer " 

George Blonden, 21 . . Lower Canada. 

Ernest Barance, 40 . . Native of Poland. 

John Bromley, 38 . . Depeauville, Jefferson " 

Nelson Butterfield, 22 ..Philadelphia, " n 

Charles E. Bro;vn, 24 .. Brownsville, " " 

Christopher Buckley, 30 . . Salina, Onondaga »» 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. ilEUSTIS. 



63 



Names. Age. 

Hiram Colton, 21 . 

Philip Coonrod, 21 . 

Lysander Curtis, 35 . 

Robert G. Collins, 32 . 

Eli Clark, 61 . 

Charles F. Grossman, 19 . 

Paschal Carpenter, 20 • 

John Cronkhite, 29 . 

Calvin S. Clark, 19 . 

Peter Cranker, 23 • 

Hugh Calhoun, 35 . 

Truman Chipman, 44 . 

Nathan Coffin, 27 . . 

Levi Chipman, 45 . 

James Cummings, 40 . 

Leonard Delano, 26 . 

Joseph Drumma, 22 .. 

David Defield, 28 . . 

Joseph Dodge, 28 . ■ 

Moses A. Dutcher, 23 . . 

William Denio, 21 . 

Luther Darby, 48 . . 

Aaron Dresser, 24 . 

Rensselaer Drake, 23 . 

John Elmore, 19 . 

Selah Evans, 35 . , 

Adam Empy, 40 . 

Elom Fellows, 23 . 

Michael Fraer, 23 . 

Edmund Foster, 22 . 

Lorenzo E. Finney, 21 . 

William Gates, 24 . 

Emanuel Garrison, 26 . 

Gideon A. Goodrich, 43 . 

Nelson Griggs, 28 . 

Jerry Griggs, 21 . 

John Gilman, 38 . 

David Gould, 24 . 

Cornelius Goodrich, 18 . 

Francis Ganyo, 18 . 

John Graves, 25 . 

Daniel George, 28 . 

Daniel D. Heustis, 32 . 

Charles Hariz, 22 . 

Edmund Holmes, 24 . 

Garret Hicks, 45 . 

Hiram Hall, 17 . 

David House, 26 . 

Jacob Herald, — . 

Moses Haynes, 20 . 

James Inglish, 28 . 

Henry Johnson, 29 . 



Residence. 

Philadelphia, Jefferson County. 
Salina, Onondaga " 

Ogdensburgh, St. Law'ce " 

Oswego, Oswego " 

Watertown, Jefferson " 

Leroy, " " 

Alexandria, " " 
Fort Covington, Franklin " 

Orleans, Jefferson " 

Salina, Onondaga " 
Upper Canada. 

Liverpool, Onondaga *' 
Upper Canada. 

Orleans, Jefferson " 

Watertown, " « 

Salina, Onondaga " 



Brownsville, Jefferson " 

Leroy, " " 

Watertown, «* " 

Alexandria, " «* 

Salina, Onondaga *' 

Leroy, Jeflerson '^ 

Rossee, St. Lawrence ♦* 

Dexter, Jefferson " 

Clay, Onondaga " 

Alexandria, Jefferson «* 

Watertown, " " 

Lyme, " " 

Brownsville, " " 

Salina, Onondaga *' 



Brownsville, Jefferson " 

Alexandria, **■ " 

Salina, Onondaga ** 
Lower Canada. 
Cosmopolitan. 

Lyme, Jefferson «' 

Watertown, " " 

Lyme, " " 

Plattsburg, Clinton " 

Alexandria, Jefferson *' 

Orleans, " " 

Alexandria, " " 
France. 

Salina, Onondaga " 

Adams, Jefferson " 
New York City. 



64 



CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 



Names. ^g^- 

John M. Jones, 35 . 

George Kimball, 20 . 

Hiram Kenney, 20 . 

Joseph Lefore, 29 . 

Daniel Liscomb, 40 . 

Samuel Livingston, 40 . 

Joseph Lee, 21 . 

Andrew Leeper, 44 . 

Hiram Loop, 25 . 

Samuel Laraby, 35 . 

Paul Lamear, — . 

Sylvester A. Lawton, 23 . 

Leman L. Leach, 40 . 

Oliver Lawton, 22 . 

Peter Myer, 20 . 

Sebastian Myer, 20 . 

Calvin Matthews, 25 . 

Andrew Moore, 26 . 

Justus Merriam, 18 . 

Jehiel H. Martin, 32 . 

Phares Miller, 18 . 

John Morrisset, 20 . 

Chauncey Matthews, 25 . 

Foster Martin, 34 . 

Frederick Milow, — . 

Oster Myer, 30 . 

Alonzo Mayatt, 18 . 

Joseph Norris, 26 . 

Lawrence O'Reiley, 46 . 

Alson Owen, 27 . 

Benjamin Obrey, 18 . 

Oliver Obrey, 21 . 

William O'Neil, 42 . 

John Okonskie, 32 . 

Jacob Putman, 24 . 

Asa Priest, 45 . 

Gay us Powers, 24 . 

[ra'Polley, 22 . 

Levi Putman, 24 . 

Lawton S. Peck, 20 . 

Jacob Paddock, 18 . 

James Pierce, 22 . 

Ethel Penny, 19 . 

James Phillips, 38 . 

Joel Peeler, 41 . 

ftussel Phelps, 38 . 

Timothy Rawson, 24 . 

William Reynolds, 19 . 

Asa H. Richardson, 24 . 

Edgar Rogers, 18 . 

Andrew Richardson, 28 . 

Solomon Reynolds, 33 . 



Residence. 

Philadelphia, Jefferson County. 

Brownsville, Jefferson " 

Palermo, Osv/ego " 

Lyme, Jefferson " 

Lisbon, St. Lawrence " 

Palermo, Oswego " 

Lyme, Jefferson " 

Scruple, Onondaga »* 

Rossee, St. Lawrence " 

Ogdensburgh, " ♦' 

Lyme, Jefferson " 

Salina, Onondaga " 

Saratoga, Saratoga " 

Salina, Onondaga " 

Rochester, Munroe «f 

Lysander, Onondaga «* 

Adams, Jefferson " 

Brownsville, " " 

Oswego, Oswego " 

Leroy, Jefferson " 
Lower Canada. 

Liverpool, Onondaga " 

Antwerp, Jefferson " 
Germany. 
Poland. 

Lower Canada. 

Rossee, St. Lawrence " 

Lyme, Jefferson " 

Palermo, Oswego " 

Madrid, St. Lawrence " 

U U (t 

Alexandria, Jefferson " 

Poland. 

Palermo, Oswego " 

Auburn, Cayuga <» 

Brownsville, Jefferson * 

Lyme, " »» 

Brownsville, " »* 

Salina, Onondaga ** 

Orleans, Jefferson ** 

Lyme, " »» 
Ogdensburgh, St. Law'ce " 

Rutland, Jefferson " 

Lyme, " « 

Alexandria, " " 

Orleans, " " 

Upper Canada. " 

Watertown, Jefferson '* 

Rossee, St. Lawrence " 

Queensbury, Warren ♦' 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 



65 



Names. -^gC' 

Orson Rogers, 19 . 

Lysander Root, 27 . 

Charles Rogers, — . 

Baptiste Raza, 20 . 

Charles Smith, 21 . 

John G. Swansberg, 28 . 

Price Senter, 18 . 

Hiram Sharp, 25 . 

Andrew Smith, 21 . 

William Stebbins, 18 . 

James L. Snow, 20 . 

Henry Shew, 28 . 

Orin W. Smith, 32 . 

Joseph W. Stewart, 25 . 

Thomas Stockton, 40 . 

William D. Sweet, 10 . 

Savoy, 44 . 

Sylvanus Sweet, 21 . 

Oliver Tucker, 22 . 

Joseph Thompson, 26 . 

Abner B. Townsend, 19 . 

Samuel Tibbetts, 25 . 

John Tliompson, 27 . 

Nelson Truax, 20 . 

John Thompson, 24 . 

Giles Thomas, 27 . 

George Venamber, 23 . 

Charles Vanwermer, 21 . 

Tenike Venalstine, 30 . 

Martin Vanslike, 23 . 

Hunter C. Vaughn, 21 . 

Nicholas A. S. Von Shoultz, 43 . 

Charles Wilson, 23 . 

Stephen S. Wright, 25 . 

Nathan Whiting, 45 . 

Charles WoodrufF, 21 . 

Joseph Wagner, 24 . 

Riley Whitney, 28 . 

Simeon Webster, 21 . 

William Wolcot, 20 . 

Jeremiah Winegar, 59 . 

Sampson A. Wiley, 20 . 

Edward A. Wilson, 27 . 

Henry E. Wilkey, 20 . 

Samuel Washburn, 23 . 

Bemis Woodbury, 22 . 

Patrick White, 25 . 

Monroe Wheelock, 23 . 

Lorenzo West, 26 . 

Alexander Wright, 21 . 

Martin WoodruiF, 34 . 



Residence. 

Philadelphia, Jefferson County. 

Sackett's Harbor, " " 

Philadelphia, « " 

Montreal, L. Canada. 

Lyme, Jefferson ^' 

Alexandria, " " 

Perry, Genesee " 

Salina, Onondaga " 

Orleans, Jefferson " 

Brownsville, " " 

Hastings, Oswego " 

Philadelphia, Jefferson " 

Orleans, " " 

Waynesburg, Mifflin Co. Penn. 
Rutland, Jefferson County. 

Alexandria, " " 

Lewisburg, Lewis " 

Alexandria, Jefferson " 

Rutland, " " 

Lyme, " " 

Philadelphia, " " 

Salina, Onondaga " 

Madrid, St. Lawrence, " 

Antwerp, Jefferson " 

Morristown, St. Law'ce " 

Salina, Onondaga " 

Alexandria, Jefferson " 

Ellisburg, Lewis " 

Salina, Onondaga *' 

Watertown, Jefferson " 

Sackett's Harbor, " " 

Salina, Onondaga ** 

Lyme, Jefferson " 

Denmark, Lewis " 

Liverpool, Onondaga " 

Salina, " " 

U U (( 

Leroy, Jefferson " 

Salina, Onondaga *' 

Clay, " « 

Brownsville, Jefferson " 

Watertown, " " 

Ogdensburgh, St, Law'ce " 

Orleans, Jefferson ** 

Oswego, Oswego ** 

Auburn, Cayuga " 
Lower Canada. 

Watertown, Jefferson " 

Salina, Onondaga " 
Ogdensburgh, St. Law'ce" 

Salina, Onondaga " 



66 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

The following-named person?, included in the foregoing list; 
were killed at Windmill Point : Nelson Butterfield, Charles E. 
Brown, Nathan Coffin, Rensselaer Drake, Adam Empy, Edmund 
Foster, Moses Haynes, Samuel Laraby, Paul Lamear, Oster 
Myer, Benjamin Obrey, James Phillips, Leonard Root, Sa- 
voy, Tenike Venalstine, Lorenzo West, Alexander Wright — 17. 

Wounded, and died in the hospital : John Bromley, Fred- 
erick Millow, Monroe Wheelock — 3. 

Wounded, but not mortally : Philip Alger, Ernest Barance, 
Hiram Colton, Leonard Delano, Selah Evans, Lorenzo E. Fin- 
ney, Jacob Herald, George Kimball, Andrew Moore, John Mor- 
risset, Oliver Obrey, John Okonskie, Orson Rogers, Giles 
Thomas, Stephen S. Wright, William Wolcot, Bemis Wood- 
bury — 17. 

The loss of the enemy was stated on our trial, by a govern- 
ment witness, to have been about twenty officers, and upwards 
of 300 men, killed, and a very large number wounded. Ac- 
cording to the best information I am able to obtain, their loss 
was much greater than represented. I have lately seen and 
conversed with a citizen of Canada, who assisted in burying the 
dead taken from the field at Prescott. He says he aided in the 
interment of 700, and he thinks there were 300 buried without 
his assistance. This would make the whole number killed 
amount to one thousand! The man appeared to be a creditable 
witness, and I see no reason for disbelieving his statement. 

The following extract from the official account of Colonel 
Gowan, an inveterate tory, although false in some respects, con- 
tains admissions in regard to the bravery of the patriots, and the 
loss of the British, which are worthy of notice. In speaking of 
the fight on the 13th, when we were first attacked, he says : 
*' After a iew liot andheavy exchanges between the steamers and 
the enemy's artillery from the tower or windmill, the battle com- 
menced on the left, by driving in the American outposts. As 
the left wing advanced the fire of the enemy icas very galling, 
and Colonel Frazer, seeing so many of the brave marines, and 
their gallant companions, the Glengarys, falling, ordered the 
whole to advance and charge, which order was promptly obeyed. 
Three British cheers, and a few paces of * double quick,' with 
the cold steel in front, soon exhibited the long-legged Yankees, 
and gave our gallant boys possession of the ground, on which 
their right flank had taken post. Meanwhile, the right wing was 
advancing against the main body of the enemy, who were en- 
trenched behind stone fences, and occupied a large barn, and 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 67 

two large stone houses close to the windmill tower. As this di- 
vision advanced, the enemy opened a most galling fire upon it, 
and, we regret to say, too many of our brave companions in 
arms fell, gallant sacrifices for the insulted honor of their coun- 
try ; and, amongst the rest, the amiable but undaunted Lieutenant 
Johnson, of the 83d. The ruffians were so securely planted be- 
hind the stone fences, that they stood the charge to the last; 
and so closely was the ground contested, that Colonel Go wan re- 
ceived the bayonet of one of the brigands in the left hip, while in 
personal conflict with him." 

The only wound which I received in the fight was caused 
by a cannon-ball striking the ground about four feet from me, 
and throwing a gravel stone -against my face, causing it to bleed 
freely, but doing no essential injury. After the battle, I found 
that my coat had been pierced with bullets in six different places ; 
and several others were as thickly peppered as mine. 

On Monday, the 19th, we were separated, and confined in five 
distinct rooms. There were forty-two in the room with me, 
which was just large enough for us all to stretch out in, leaving 
a passage-way in the centre, a foot wide. We had nothing but 
the bare floor to sleep on. 

Sheriff" McDonald came in and told us that he would allow 
one man in each room to write a letter to our friends. I wrote 
to Barnard Bagley, Esq., of Watertown, acquainting him with 
our situation, and giving him the names of the prisoners, and the 
names and residence of the friends to whom they wished him to 
write. I informed him of our need of clothing and money, as 
we had no change of linen, and many had been robbed of their 
money, coats, shoes, and other articles of necessity. 

In a few days I received an answer from Mr. Bagley, inform- 
ing me that our friends had contributed $300, which he had 
sent to the Sheriff, for our use. During our imprisonment at 
Kingston, which lasted ten months, we received money at differ- 
ent times, from our friends at Watertown, in all amounting to 
the sum of $700. 

Letters were written from the other rooms to Salina, Ogdens- 
burgh, Oswego, and Syracuse, and money was received from 
these and other places, in all amounting to between $3,500 and 
$4,000. This money, if we could have used it ourselves, would 
have alleviated our situation much. It had to pass through the 
hands of our keepers, who lost nothing by the operation. 

A man named Counter, a wealthy baker, was the contractor 
for supplying the prison with provisions. He was a member of 



68 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

the Methodist Church, and if it had many such members its 
character would need purifying, to render it fit for this world, to 
say nothing of the world to come. He took our money and pur- 
chased various articles which we needed, and for which we had 
to pay his own price. Notwithstanding the prices were exor- 
bitantly high, we always got the meanest articles. We were, in 
fact, robbed of half our money by this hypocritical saint. 

Our bread, baked in this monster's oven, was a perfect com- 
pound of unclean ingredients. We made a complaint to Sheriff 
McDonald about it, and exhibited to him specimens of the dirty 
stuff. The Sheriff sent for Counter, and, in our presence, gave 
him a caustic reprimand, in which certain profane expressions 
were freely introduced, without much regard to the religious 
professions of the contractor. In conclusion, the Sheriff ordered 
him to furnish better bread in future. 

A part of our money was spent in purchasing bedding, of 
which we had thus far been destitute. Counter bought us a 
straw bed for every two men, and two blankets to each bed. 
We had no bedsteads, but spread our beds out on the floor at 
night, and rolled them up in the morning. This was not a very 
aristocratic style of living, surely ; and when, in addition to our 
mean accommodations, we found the prison infested with ver- 
min, we were in a proper state of mind to exclaim, in the lan- 
guage of a celebrated politician, " our sufferings is intolerable." 

We had to pay for our dishes, shaving utensils, knives and 
forks, and all the little conveniences that were furnished us. 
In this manner the money contributed by our kind-hearted 
friends was expended. When we left Fort Henry, we were not 
allowed to take with us any of the articles which had thus been 
procured. Not satisfied with meanly cheating us in the original 
purchase, our keepers finally concluded to rob us of the whole, 
for the benefit, I suppose, of the amiable contractor, who proba- 
bly sold what we left behind, to prisoners who succeeded us. 

When Christmas arrived, the benevolent feelings of the afore- 
said Mr. Counter were evidently awakened and called into vig- 
orous action, by the hallowed associations of the day ; in addi- 
tion to our usual allowance of food, he sent us in a bread pud- 
ding, sweetened with molasses ! It was very dry and hard ; 
dainty people might have refused to eat it ; but such a refusal on 
our part would have been unreasonable, for the allowance was 
very small to each man, not enough, hard as it was, to baffle the 
digestive organs ! That the philosophy of Epicurus formed no 
^lart of Mr. Counter's system of prison discipline, we had pre- 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 69 

viousJy ascertained, to our entire satisfaction. But we were not 
prepared fully to appreciate the disinterested benevolence of the 
contractor, in sending us such a Christmas present, until a few 
days afterwards, when he presented to the Sheriff a bill for that 
same pudding, by which it appeared that he had charged us the 
nice little sura oi forty dollars for the luxury ! 

After we had been in prison a few days, the dueen's Attor- 
ney, Armstrong, took Von Shoultz into a separate room, and 
required him to make and sign a statement, to be used as evi- 
dence on his trial. On the 3d of December the trial took place 
before a militia court-martial. Von Shoultz pleaded guilty to 
the charge of having been arrayed in arms, and said he was 
fighting in the cause of liberty. The trial was nothing but a 
mock ceremony, as the case of the chivalric Polander had been 
prejudged, in the tory councils, and the court-martial had 
nothing to do but to record the sentence of death. After his 
condemnation, he was removed from Fort Henry to the jail in 
the village of Kingston, and we never saw him again. The last 
parting scene, in which he bid us all farewell, filled every heart 
with grief. He spoke a kind word to each one, and exhorted us 
all to die like men. His bearing, in this hour of severe trial, as 
it ever had been, was manly and noble. On the 6th, three days 
after the sham trial, the death-warrant was read to him, and on 
the 8th he suffered a martyr's death on the scaffold. During his 
short imprisonment, he won the esteem of all who came in con- 
tact with him. The officers of the 83d regiment, in particular, 
who had witnessed his heroism on the field of battle, sought his 
acquaintance, and became deeply interested in his fate. They 
implored Sir George Arthur to spare his life, but that bloody 
tyrant turned a deaf ear to every supplication in behalf of the 
victim he had determined to sacrifice. Whan the hour for the 
execution arrived. Von Shoultz shook hands with those around 
him, and every eye was suffused with tears. He was prepared 
to die. In his last moments he betrayed no unmanly weakness; 
he marched with a firm and fearless step to the gallows, vi^here his 
virtuous and patriotic life was brought to a premature close. 

For the following facts relative to the brilliant career of our 
murdered leader, I am indebted, principally, to a letter addressed 
to the editor of the Syracuse Standard, by Warren Green, Esq., 
of Salina. Mr. Green had been intimately acquainted with him 
during his. residence in Salina. In a letter, dated " Kingston 
Jail, 7th December, 1838," the day before his execution. Colonel 
Von Shoultz informed Mr. Green th^t he had appointed him ex- 



70 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

ecutor of his will; and said, if the British government would per- 
mit it, he wished to be buried on Mr. Green's farm. 

Colonel Von Shoultz was of Swedish descent, a Pole by birth, 
and of noble extraction. He had just finished an education, 
which versed him deeply in the sciences, both useful and orna- 
mental, and had acquired high literary honors, when he found 
himself engaged in that sanguinary and unequal contest between 
Poland and Russia, the unhappy termination of which lost to 
himself a country, and to that unfortunate country every thing 
but a name. As he was extremely modest in his pretensions, he 
was seldom heard to revert to personal achievements incidental 
to events so memorable, and then only under circumstances of 
the highest excitement. But in these occasional departures from 
self-reserve, and, incontestably, from other sources, it was learned 
that the important part he enacted was brilliant with heroic ad- 
ventures and hair-breadth escapes. Certain it is, he signalized 
himself amid a host of heroes; for his rise was sudden, from the 
comparative obscurity of the scholar to the responsible command 
of a colonel. 

In the sanguinary and decisive struggle before the walls of 
Warsaw, his father and a brother fell martyrs to the sacred cause 
of liberty. His mother and a sister fled, in the disguise of 
peasants, but were taken and banished to Russia, and are now 
confined to a space of ten miles square of that empire. Gashed 
and scarred with wounds, but covered with imperishable glory, — 
a fugitive, wandering from country to country ; friends and for- 
tune lost, despoiled of home and kindred, with a constitution 
much impaired, — Von Shoultz finally landed on our shores. 

Sweden, Denmark, P'inland, Lapland, Norway, Germany, 
Holland, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, 
and England, had^been the theatre of his travels, and he had 
not only acquired a general geographical knowledge of them all, 
but an intimate acquaintance with the habits, manners, and cus- 
toms of the inhabitants. He spoke eight different dialects; but, 
at the time of his arrival here, he had only an imperfect knowl- 
edge of our own. His father's interest in the celebrated mines 
of Cracow, led him to an intimate knowledge of the manufacture 
of salt. Thrown upon his own resources, in a land of strangers, 
stripped of every vestige of property except a few family relics, 
he cast about him with his usual energy for the means of a live- 
lihood, and these considerations brought him to the Onondaga 
salines, in the fall of 1836. Here he fitted up a small laboratory, 
made his experiments, became confirmed in the truth of a new 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 



71 



theory, and succeeded in convincing at least one individual of 
the practicability and utility of his improvement. He then pro- 
ceeded to Washington, obtained letters patent, visited and ana- 
lyzed the principal springs in Virginia, made the most favorable 
impressions wherever he extended his business or acquaintance, 
and finally returned to Salina and put two furnaces in operation, 
on his plan, successfully. While thus engaged, the diabolical 
outrages perpetrated by the British government on the people of 
Canada, awakened his sympathies in behalf of the oppressed. 
His soul was fired at the thought of again being permitted to 
strike for freedom. His enthusiastic recklessness of danger led 
him into its very vortex, and he perished, a victim upon the altar 
of liberty ! He was a good military engineer, a skilful com- 
mander, and a man of the most fearless intrepidity. Had he 
fallen in battle, we might have regretted his fate without im- 
pugning its justice ; but it will be a reproach to the British gov- 
ernment, through all succeeding time, that this chivalrous cham- 
pion of freedom was sacrificed, in the prime of life, for imitating 
the example of Lafayette and other heroes of the American rev- 
olution. A fearful retribution will yet overtake the bloody exe- 
cutioners. 

"On a review of the sparkling incidents of his brief and ro- 
mantic career," says Mr. Green, " I still think of him as the 
creature of a high-wrought fancy, rather than of sober reality ; 
like a meteor of uncommon brilliancy, which has suddenly illu- 
mined the path of my dull existence, and as suddenly disap- 
peared forever." 

He was betrothed to a beautiful and accomplished American 
lady, of Salina, whose miniature was torn from his neck at the 
time of his capture. He wrote, a few days previous to his death, 
a beautiful song, entitled *' The Maiden's Answer," which he 
sung, with a thrilling yet plaintive voice, to his companions. It 
referred, in touching and appropriate terms, to her whom he 
loved with all the ardor of his impulsive nature. 



72 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Reign of Terror — Execution of several Prisoners — Com- 
ments of the Democratic Review on these hideous Murders — 
The Author's Trial — Anecdote of Old Hicks'' — Character 
of Sheriff McDonald — His Profanity — Uncommon Vigilance 
to prevent our Escape — Visits from our Fi'iends — Private 
Money smuggled into the Prison — Six Breakfasts eaten by 
one Man — Pardon of a Portion of the Prisoners — Mrs. Skin- 
ner's Effort in my Behalf — A Visit from the Governor — Cel' 
ebration of the Fourth of July in Prison. 

The reign of terror had now commenced. We were in tlie 
hands of the Robespierres of Canada, and the guillotine was 
in readiness to despatch its victims. The gloom and monotony 
of prison life ; the unrelenting murder of our beloved commander , 
the uncertainty which brooded over our destiny ; the blood- 
thirsty disposition evinced by the tories, and especially by Gov- 
ernor Arthur, to whom we were obliged to look for clemency ; 
the summary process of trying us by a court-martial, composed 
of persons known to be violently hostile to us, and selected for 
that very reason ; the effort to induce some of our men to turn 
queen's witnesses, by an offer of free pardon for themselves ; — all 
these things tended to render our situation exceedingly un- 
pleasant. It was boldly declared, in advance of any trial, that 
all the leaders, at least, would be hung. How comprehensive 
the tory definition of the word " leaders " might be, we had no 
very satisfactory means of deciding. Every man who was known 
to have been an active participator in the patriot movements on 
the frontier considered that his doom was sealed. In previous 
chapters the reader will have learned that I was somewhat deeply 
implicated, and the fact that I had been arraigned before the 
civil tribunals of my own country, on account of my connection 
with these movements, rendered my case one of the most des- 
perate. The reflections incident to such a situation, as may 
easily be imagined, were not of the most agreeable character. 
Still, I never indulged in melancholy forebodings. 

On the I2th of December, four days after the execution of 
Von Shoultz, Colonel Dorethus Abbey and Daniel George were 



ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HEUSTIS. 73 

led to the scaffold. T had been in the room with Colonel Abbey. 
Three or four days before his murder, the Sheriff came in, and 
told him he had received orders for his execution, and wished 
him to get ready to remove to the cell of the condemned, imme- 
diately. He received the intelligence with manly coolness, and, 
on leaving, shook hands with us all, bidding us farewell. There 
is a melting power in that single word " farewell," — when spoken 
for the last time, under such peculiar and distressing circum- 
stances, — which opens the fountain of the heart, and sends tears 
of sorrow trickling down the hardy cheeks of manhood. Sepa- 
ration from friends is at all times afflictive to the feelings ; but 
when they leave at the bidding of the executioner, who is to sever 
the brittle thread of life and consign them to " that bourn from 
whence no traveller returns," how sad, how solemn, how over- 
powering is the scene ! What a throng of deep emotions crowd 
the heart, and cause every fibre to palpitate ! 

Colonel Abbey was a native of Connecticut, and a printer and 
editor by profession. To his three orphan children he addressed 
affectionate letters, on the evening previous to his death. To 
one of these letters there was a postscript, written the next morn- 
ing, as follows : " I slept soundly and quietly last night ; I now 
feel as though I could meet the event with composure." 

Mr. George was taken prisoner in attempting to cross the 
river, as described in a previous chapter. He belonged to Lyme, 
Jefferson county, and was a brave, resolute, and worthy man. 
He left a disconsolate widow, who has never recovered from the 
shock. I have seen and conversed with her since my return 
from bondage. Nothing can assuage the grief of that heart- 
broken woman. 

Colonel Martin Woodruff, of Salina, was executed on the 19th. 
He was a man of great courage, and a first-rate officer. At the 
Windmill he displayed heroic bravery ; and he met his fate, as he 
had fought, with lion-hearted resolution. I knew him personally, 
and always found him true to the patriot cause, in which his soul 
was enthusiastically engaged. He left a mourning widow and 
three children. The Kingston Spectator thus described the 
scene of his murder : *' He was placed on the platform, the cap 
pulled over his face, and the hangman then fastened the rope to 
a hook in the beam over head. The platform fell, and a revolt- 
ing, disgusting, and disgraceful spectacle was presented to view. 
The knot, instead of drawing tight under the ear, was brought 
to the chin ; it did not slip, but left space enough to put a hand 
within, the chief weight of the body bearing upon the rope at the 
4 



74 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

back of the neck. The body was in great agitation, and seemed 
to suffer greatly. The spectators said it was shameful man- 
agement, and then two hangmen endeavored to strangle the suf- 
ferer." The Port Ontario Aurora said, *' His neck was not 
broken till the hangman on the cross-tree had pulled him up by 
the collar and let him fall four times in succession." 

On the 22d day of December, Joel Peeler and Sylvanus Sweet, 
two of the most inoffensive men in the lot, were sent to the gal- 
lows. The Prescott affair was the first and only movement they 
had been identified with. When they were dragged to the 
scaffold, it really seemed as if an indiscriminate slaughter of all 
the prisoners had been decreed. None of us were less deeply 
implicated, and their martyrdom shows how utterly regardless 
the bloody executioners were of all discrimination, so long as 
they could find subjects for their malignant revenge to operate 
upon. 

On the 4th of January, 1839, four others were escorted to the 
gallows, namely, Christopher Buckley, Sylvester A. Lawton, 
Russell Phelps, and Duncan Anderson. They were brave men; 
but what they had done, to be singled out from the rest and sac- 
rificed on the scaffold, I have never been able to learn. Poor 
Anderson was sick, and could not have lived many weeks, if 
they had taken the best care of him ! He was so weak that his 
murderers were obliged to support him on the scaffold ! Com- 
ment on such atrocious barbarity is needless. In the evening, 
after this inhuman execution. Colonel Dundas and his ofiicers 
had a gay and mirthful pleasure party ! O, shame ! where is thy 
blush? 

On the 11th of February, Leman L. Leach was executed. He 
was one of the most daring and fearless men I ever saw. He 
was so perfectly reckless of danger that nothing could intimidate 
him. Not having finished his breakfast when the officer came to 
escort him to the gallows, he insisted on being allowed to enjoy 
his last meal, and kept the officer waiting till he had coolly and 
deliberately concluded his repast. This heedless indifference in 
regard to his fate was characteristic of the man. Aside from his 
bravery, there were not so many attractive points in his charac- 
ter as were exhibited by the other martyrs. 

The Democratic Review, for March, 1839, expressed the fol- 
lowing just sentiments in relation to these and other executions 
in Canada : — 

" The most foul atrocities with which this part of our conti- 
nent has ever been stained, taking into considerate connection 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 75 

all the facts and circumstances of the case, are unquestionably 
the late British executions in our neighbor state of Canada. In 
the present age of the world, and the present maturity of the 
public mind, to extinguish human life for political opinion is not 
a whit less infamous or revolting than it would be to revive the 
fires of Smithfield, and burn men, women, and children, for re- 
ligious belief It is impossible to apply to this case the justifica- 
tion of legal right. The laws of England, which have been de- 
filed by her monarchs with penalties for every crime, sanguinary 
as the code of Draco, authorize the penalty of death in unnum- 
bered instances, where the daily practice of her courts shows 
that it is necessary, for justice's sake, to preserve the life. The 
law of high treason, in particular, under which these hideous 
murders have been committed, is as old as the reign of Edward 
III., and ordains capital punishment for conspiring the death of 
the king ! If the great Jefferson, in the sincere respect of a 
philosophic lawgiver for the rights of posterity, and with a sacred 
deference to the progress of opinion, questioned the power and 
doubted the propriety of a legislature's enacting laws binding for 
more than one generation, what shall we think in our land, and 
in an age subsequent to Jefterson, of the horrid criminality of 
these bloody executions in Canada, under a law some hundreds 
of years old, and for an offence an American and a republican 
cannot commit. No, the spirit of murder is essentially com- 
bined with the spirit of British monarchy. The sanguinary sel- 
fishness of its fear of light, truth, justice, and patriotism, has 
traced its long career, in the pages of British history, in the best 
blood of its own land ; and it is not to be borne that the monster 
appetite is now to be satiated with American and republican vic- 
tims. We say American, without especial reference to the na- 
tives of the United States who perished at its bidding, but also 
of the more friendless Canadians, natives of the same soil, chil- 
dren of the same sun, and inheriting the same sympathies and 
associations, as ourselves. 

" We attach no blame to the people of England, for these 
atrocities. Their influence, wherever it has found its way into 
the legislation of their country, has been — like that of the peo- 
ple in all countries — uniformly beneficial, enlightened, and hu- 
mane. The influence of her monarchy has been, on the contrary, 
as uniformly bad. * * * * * * * 

** What a noble army of martyrs, soon to be honored as they 
deserve, would not these names compose ; from the Cobhams and 
Balls of her early history, to the Russells and Sidneys, or Em- 



76 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

mets and Lounts of her modern annals, whose fame will shine in 
brightness undiminished, when the loathing and wrath of aroused 
and free opinion shall have prostrated forever the system that 
destroyed them, because it could not exist in the same age with 
so much purity and worth. The inexpressible indignation and 
disgust which the perpetration of these atrocities, in this hemis- 
phere, has occasioned, throughout the whole length and breadth 
of this land, may image forth the reaction of that tide of virtuous 
feeling that ere long will swell up in a strength that will at once 
atone and avenge the whole. Yes ! let it go forth. Never, 
never will the loathing which the judicial murders of these hap- 
less Canadians has attached, in all enlightened opinion, to the 
British monarchy, be effaced, nor the indignant abhorrence they 
have excited, subside, until a power thus disgustingly alien to the 
feelings, the interests, and the sympathies, as well as the soil of 
freemen, shall have been utterly expelled from the broad expanse 
of the North American continent, whose free soil its odious and 
cruel policy has thus foully polluted." 

On the 17th of December, I was arraigned before the court- 
martial, with eleven others, for trial. The court consisted of 
about a dozen militia (or malicious) officers. Previous to this 
time I had been called out of my room, in company with O. W. 
Smith and others, to make a statement to the dueen's Attorney. 
As we did not exactly like this method of furnishing testimony 
to be used against us, and had some doubts as to the legal right 
of the court or its officers to exact it, our statements were as 
guarded and cautious as we could well make them. The Attor- 
ney pretended to take them down in writing. In a few days he 
came to our room, and wanted us to sign the documents he had 
drawn up. On reading them, we found he had colored them as 
much as possible, to our disadvantage. I refused to sign the one 
prepared for me, and Smith also refused to sign his. The At- 
torney insisted upon it, but all to no purpose. He said it was 
useless for us to undertake to be stubborn, as he knew all about 
us, and we were sure to be hung ! I told him, if the government 
had already decided to hang us, as he had intimated, they could 
do so, but they must not expect us to furnish the rope! He left 
us, not very well satisfied with the result of his attempt to bam- 
boozle the Yankees. A few days afterwards, having had time to 
cool down a little, he allowed us to make new statements, which 
he drew up with tolerable accuracy, and we then signed them. 
All hope of a fair and impartial trial, with such men for accusers 
and judges, must certainly have rested on a sandy foundation. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 77 

The accusation was the same against us all. I received a copy 
of the charge against me, a few days before the trial. It read as 
follows : — 

" For the said Daniel D. Heustis, on the 12th day of Novem- 
ber, and on divers other days between that day and the 16th day 
of November, in the second year of the reign of our Sovereign 
Lady Victoria, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, defender of the faith, with 
force and arms, at the township of Augusta,* in the District of 
Johnstown and Province of Upper Canada, being a citizen of a 
foreign state, at peace with the IJnited Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland, that is to say, the United States of America, having 
joined himself to several subjects of our said Lady the dueen, 
who were then and there unlawfully and traitorously in arms 
against our said Lady the Queen, the said Daniel D. Heustis, 
with the said subjects of her said Majesty, so unlawfully and 
traitorously in arms as aforesaid, did then and there, armed with 
guns and bayonets, and other warlike weapons, feloniously kill 
and slay divers of her said Majesty's loyal subjects, contrary 
to the statute in such cases made and provided, and against 
the peace of our said Lady the Queen, her crown and dignity. 
You are hereby notified that the foregoing is a copy of the charge 
preferred against you, and upon which you will be tried before 
the Militia General Court-Martial, assembled at Fort Henry, in 
the Midland District, on Monday, the 17th day of December, 
1838. You will forward to me the names of any witnesses you 
may desire to have summoned for your defence. Dated the 10th 
day of December, 1838, 

(Signed) WM. H. DRAPER, Advocate-General." 

We all pleaded " Not Guilty." Five or six witnesses were 
sworn against me, among whom were Levi Chipman, a Canadian 
by birth, Alonzo Mayatt and Baptiste Raza, French Canadians, 
who were of our own party, and had turned queen's evidence. 
Their testimony amounted to nothing. Captain Sandum testified 
that we surrendered to him, and he appeared to be very proud 
of the honor. An ensign of the 83d regiment testified that 
twenty-eight men were killed out of his company; also, that 
about twenty officers and more than three hundred privates were 
killed, on the British side, and a great many wounded. None 

* The battle-field was in Augusta, but being near Prescott, the fight 
has always been called " The Battle of Prescott." 



78 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

of the witnesses could identify us but Chipman, and he knew 
but little. John Graves, another traitor and queen's witness, 
had been giving private information against us, but he was not 
produced at the trial. Smith and myself retained a lawyer to 
assist us in our defence, but he was only permitted to remain in 
the room during the trial, without saying a word. 

After the farcical ceremony of examining the witnesses, the 
members of the court busied themselves for about two minutes 
and a half, apparently in a very profound exchange of opinions 
among themselves, and then we were remanded to our prison 
again, without any intimation as to what the verdict was; and 
never, from that day to this, has it been communicated to us, or 
any sentence passed upon us, though we have seen and felt some 
things that have induced us to believe that we were adjudged 
guilty. 

We had some droll specimens of humanity among us, who, 
amid all our trials, occasionally excited a flow of mirth, which 
relieved the tediousness of our confinement, and enabled us to 
look with more stoic philosophy on the dark spots in our expe- 
rience. Among these fun-provoking geniuses was Garret Hicks, 
or, as he was commonly called, " Old Hicks," a coarse, careless, 
independent sort of a fellow, who was always telling some big 
dog story, and displayed a wonderful knowledge of the marvel- 
lous achievements of the canine race. When he was arraigned 
for trial, his uncouth appearance led the Judge-Advocate to sup- 
pose that he was " threepence short of a shilling," as the English 
say, when they suspect a man is a little deficient in shrewdness. 

" Well, Hicks," said the Judge-Advocate, ''did you fight any?" 

*' Yes, I fit as well as I could," said Hicks, in a blunt, indiffer- 
ent, care-for-nothing manner. 

" How many did you kill?" 

"Well, I don't know; I guess I killed as many of them as 
they did of me." 

The court enjoyed a hearty laugh, at this happy reply of " Old 
Hicks," and finding him not so verdant as they had imagined, 
let him go without further questioning. 

Each of the five rooms in which we were confined had a cap- 
tain, whose duty it was to see that every thing was kept in order. 
All communications to the Sheriff had to be made through the 
medium of the captains. I was elevated to this high post of 
honor in my room, which brought me in contact with the Sheriff 
and other officers every day, and, in the course of our long con- 
finement, gave me an opportunity to study their characters. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 79 

Sheriff McDonald was a large, stout, and good-looking Scotch- 
man. He was a proud man, and was colonel of the Glengary 
regiment. Prompt and faithful in the discharge of his duty as 
an officer, he was not destitute of humane feelings, and never 
insulted us, as did others, with ungentlemanly and abusive re- 
marks, calculated to irritate and annoy us. He was in the habit 
of using quite too much profane language ; in fact, he rarely 
spoke without introducing expressions that it would be improper 
for me to repeat; we soon got used to his oaths, and paid no at- 
tention to them. One day I observed to him, " I think you 
ought to allow us a little money to spend for ourselves." 

" G — d d — n your soul, you've no right to think ; there are 
men paid to think for you," was the characteristic reply. 

Some time before we were sent to Fort Henry, Colonel Brophy 
and about a dozen other patriots made their escape from the 
fort, and reached the United States. The Sheriff, a little nettled 
by their escape, kept a close eye on us, lest our Yankee inge- 
nuity should also devise some plan for eluding his grasp. He 
often told us that it was our business to get away, if we could, 
and it was his business to keep us, and, with a tremendous oath, 
he would assert his intention of doing his part of the work effec- 
tually. Every day our rooms were examined, and great precau- 
tions taken, to frustrate any scheme that we might contrive to 
liberate ourselves. With only ordinary vigilance, it is doubtful 
whether he would have kept us as long as he did. 

Our friends from the United States were frequently over to see 
us, and by various stratagems we contrived to get in private 
money, with which, through the agency of the cook, we procured 
various little essential articles of comfort. By previous arrange- 
ment with their friends, some of the men received bank bills 
sewed up in clothing sent to them. 

My friends made an arrangement with the Catholic priest, who 
visited us frequently, to be the bearer of money to me. In this 
way I received twenty-five dollars in silver, which was of much 
service to me. This Catholic priest was much more attentive to 
us than the Episcopalian clergyman ; he would converse with us 
freely, without reserve or cold formality, and appeared to sympa- 
thize with us in our trials. 

One morning, during the winter, while we were waiting for 
breakfast, with appetites well sharpened, Henry Shew, a very 
small man, but full of life and motion, offered to bet that he 
could eat five men's breakfasts in fifteen minutes. Here was a 
chance for fun, if nothing else. 



80 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

** I will bet you a coat you can't do it," said one. 

" Agreed," said Shew. 

Others staked shirts, handkerchiefs, and stocks. Shew ac- 
cepted the offers, and four of us were to give up our breakfasts 
to be added to his own, to enable him to try the experiment. 
In turning them into a large tin pan, we managed to smuggle in 
an extra one, making six. Shew then commenced operations, 
while the rest of us stood by, to watch the progress of the work. 
At first we had hopes of winning ; but these hopes were soon 
dissipated. Before the expiration of the time, the pan was scraped 
clean, and Shew declared he could have eaten more with ease. 
The unfortunate wights who had bet with him, had to console 
themselves as the man did who lost his nice fat rabbit, and after 
it had escaped, concluded it was rather l«an, and that a great 
quantity of butter would have been consumed in cooking it ! 

At various times, between the first of December and the first 
of May, sixty-four of our number were pardoned and sent home 
to the United States, and twenty-two others were discharged 
without a trial, making in all eighty-six, leaving sixty still in 
captivity. Some time in the spring, twenty-five of the latter, in- 
cluding myself, were pardoned by Governor Arthur, and an order 
for our liberation had just been put into the Sheriff's hands, 
when the pardons were withdrawn, and we were reserved for 
a punishment worse than death itself This is another fact going 
to show how completely we were subject to the caprices of the 
unprincipled mercenaries of royalty. 

My cousin, Mrs. Skinner, of Watertown, went to Toronto, and 
had an interview with the Governor, Sir George Arthur, in the 
hope of aiding numerous petitions which had been sent to him 
by ray friends in Jefferson county, praying for my liberation. 
The Governor said he could do nothing, as the whole subject 
had been left at the disposal of the home government. When 
he wished to send men to the gallows, his authority was undis- 
puted, and he not only refiised to consult the home government, 
but denied the prisoners a trial by jury, to which they were en- 
titled by the laws of England. But a generous act of clemency 
was such an unusual thing with him, and so uncongenial to his 
nature, that he must needs be driven to its performance by orders 
from his superiors ! I am inclined to think, however, that the 
Governor fabricated the story which he told Mrs. Skinner, to 
get rid of the strong appeal in my behalf 

Governor Arthur visted us once during our imprisonment. 
He was a short, stout-built man, and had a tyrannical look about 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 81 

him, which did not belie his character. He put several ques- 
tions to individual prisoners, and when, in answer to one ad- 
dressed to me, I told him my name, he said, '* I recollect; 'Squire 
Gilbert, of Watertown, has written, to Chief Justice Jones respect- 
ing you." Just before he left, he made a brief address to us; in 
which, among other things not so complimentary, he said, "If 
you had been fighting in the right cause, you would have been 
an honor to your country." 

The ever glorious Fourth of July, we celebrated as well as 
circumstances would permit. Out of several pocket handker- 
chiefs a flag was manufactured, as nearly resembling the " star- 
spangled banner " as we could conveniently make it. This em- 
blem of freedom and national independence we hoisted in our 
room, taking good care that the officers did not get a peep at it. 
We procured some lemons and sugar, which enabled us to pass 
round a refreshing bowl of lemonade. We then let off our toasts, 
in which the heroes of '76 were duly remembered. Their success 
had saved them from the gallows, and bequeathed freedom to 
their posterity, while our failure had procured us a dungeon, and 
riveted the chains which bound the hapless Canadians as vassals 
of the British throne. If we had been tortured with the thought 
that our own cowardice had been the cause of our defeat, we 
should indeed have been the most miserable of men. But we 
had faced the enemy, as did the heroes of Bunker Hill, if not 
with equal success in the final result, at least in the same spirit 
and for the attainment of the same object, and we saw no cause 
for self-reproach. 

The reanimating season of spring, and the hot and sultry 
days of summer, came and passed, and we still remained shut 
up in the gloomy prison. How we longed for an opportunity to 
exercise in the open fields, where the pure air of heaven would 
invigorate our bodies and revive our drooping spirits, and where 
the beauties of smiling nature would delight the eye and refresh 
the heart 1 The blessing of personal freedom, like all other 
blessings, is never appreciated until we feel its loss. The sick 
man can estimate the value of health ; so can the* prisoner, who 
has passed months in a dark and dismal cell, living on the mean- 
est food, and breathing the foulest atmosphere, appreciate the 
worth of freedom. To him, wealth, honor, and renown are but 
idle shadows! His soul pants for liberty! Give him that, and 
his joyous spirit will leap forth into the world, in raptures of de- 
light ! 



82 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Removal from Fort Henry to Quebec — Embarkation on board 
the Ship Buffalo — An Account of the Battle of Windsor — 
Description of the Buffalo — Division of the Prisoners into 
Messes — Our Manner of Living — A Sto?'m — Scheme to Cap- 
ture the Ship — Death of Asa Priest — A Funeral at Sea — 
Arrival at Rio Janeiro — Yankee Seamanship — A Flogging — 
Doubling the Cape — Van Dieman's Land. 

On the morning of the 23d of September, Deputy-Sheriff 
Richardson came into our room and told us that we were to be 
removed from Fort Henry, and wanted us to get ready for a start. 
Our destination we could not ascertain, and this was the first in- 
timation we had received of our removal. We had scarcely 
finished packing up our clothing, when several blacksmiths came 
in with irons to fasten around our ankles, and handcuffs for our 
wrists. We were to be chained together, in couples, and had 
the privilege of choosing our mates. I went with O. W. Smith. 
The irons were riveted on our ankles by the blacksmiths, but the 
handcuffs were fastened with padlocks. There was a key to 
every padlock, though one key would fit them all. I put the 
handcuffs on to Smith and myself, and then put the key in my 
pocket. 

After the sons of Vulcan had thus invested us in a complete 
uniform of iron jewelry, we were marched from the fort to the 
wharf, escorted by a company of the 83d regiment, and accom- 
panied by Sheriff McDonald and three Deputy-Sheriffs. On ar- 
riving at the wharf our names were called, and we were then 
huddled on board a canal-boat. In addition to the sixty Prescott 
prisoners, there were eighteen who had been taken at the battle 
of Windsor, and three who had been convicted of crimes in the 
courts of justice, so called. A small steamer towed the canal- 
boat through the Rideau canal to Montreal, and we had a long, 
tedious passage. At night, we had the soft side of a plank to 
repose on, and iron fetters for bed-clothes! The key in my 
pocket enabled me to relieve myself and some of my companions 
of the handcuffs, during the hours of darkness, which bettered 
our condition considerablv. 



ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HEUSTIS. 83 

On the evening of the 27th we arrived at Montreal, and were 
immediately transferred to a British steamer, bound to Quebec, 
where we arrived at night on the 28th. As we approached the 
latter place, our attention was directed to a ship anchored oiFthe 
city. It was just high water, and the wind, blowing lightly, had 
canted the vessel across the stream, so that I had a broadside 
view of her. She was a vessel of about 700 tons, and loomed too 
high out of the water to be a ship of war, although she mounted 
guns, and had a long pendant flying from the main, which made 
it evident that she was not employed in the merchant service. 
Approaching nearer, I could see her topgallant forecastle crowd- 
ed with sailors and soldiers, and then the thought crossed my 
mind that she was a convict ship, destined to transport us to some 
penal colony. This impression was soon confirmed. We found, 
as we went alongside of her, that she was indeed the convict- 
ship Buffalo, commanded by Captain Wood. She had royal 
yards across fore and aft, and the blue peter flying at the fore, 
(a signal for sea,) the transports' pendant at the main, and the 
English red ensign at the mizen peak. 

The irons, which had severely tormented us all the way from 
Kingston, were taken off on the deck of the steamer, and we 
were then transferred to the Buffalo. As I passed from the 
steamer to the ship's deck, I saw Sheriff McDonald standing at 
the gangway, and having my watch with me I inquired of him 
whether I should be permitted to retain it, and if not, I wished 
him to send it to my friends. He gazed upon me for a moment 
with a look of the deepest commiseration, and in faltering ac- 
cents told me to keep it, at the same time bursting into tears ! 
My watch had been sent to me, while in prison, by my friends. 
I could not have kept it from the greedy grasp of the military 
thieves who made us prisoners, if I had carried it at the battle 
of Prescott. Sheriff McDonald, I have since been informed, died 
in one of our lunatic asylumSj only a short time after we parted 
with him on board the Buffalo. 

After being thoroughly searched, we were passed along for- 
ward and down into the hold. Here we found fifty-eight patriots 
and two civil prisoners, from Lower Canada, who were to be our 
companions during the voyage, and fellow-sufferers in a land of 
exile. The whole number of prisoners was 141. 

The following are the names of the Prescott prisoners ; those 
marked with a star have since died : David Allen, Orlin Blodget, 
John Bradley, Thomas Baker, John Berry, Chauncey Bugby, 
George T. Brown, Lysander Curtis,* Robert G. Collins, John 



84 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

Cronkhite, Hugh Calhoun, Leonard Delano, Moses A. Dutcher, 
Luther Darby, Aaron Dresser, Elon Fellows, Michael Fraer, 
William Gates, Emanuel Garrison, Gideon A. Goodrich, Nelson 
Griggs, Jerry Griggs, John Gilman, Daniel D. Heustis, Garret 
Hicks, David House, James Liglish, Joseph Lefore, Daniel Lis- 
comb, Andrew Leeper,* Hiram Loop, Calvin Matthews, Andrew 
Moore, Jehiel H. Martin, John Morriset, Chauncey Matthews, 
Foster Martin,* Alson Owen,* Asa Priest,* Ira Polly, Jacob 
Paddock, James Pierce, William Reynolds, Asa H. Richardson, 
Solomon Reynolds, John Swansburg, Hiram Sharp, Henry Shew, 
Orin W. Smith, Joseph W. Stewart, Thomas Stockton,* Joseph 
Thompson, John Thomas, Stephen S. Wright, Nathan Whiting, 
Riley Whitney, Edward A. Wilson, Samuel Washburn, Bemis 
Woodbury, Patrick White — 60. 

As before stated, there were eighteen prisoners among us who 
had been taken at the battle of Windsor, and, as I have given no 
account of that battle, a brief description of the fight will not be 
out of place in this connection. In the latter part of November, 
1838, several hundred men left Cleveland, Ohio, in small par- 
ties, and assembled at Brest, Michigan, where they recruited for 
a short time. The expedition had been planned principally by 
refugees quartered at Cleveland. The weather being cold, and 
the authorities of the United States, as usual, manifesting a strong 
disposition to interfere, many became disheartened at what they 
considered tardiness on the part of their leaders, and began to 
desert. The patriots in Michigan were now for the first time 
asked to join the expedition, which they were willing to do, but 
time was necessary to call out their force. The capture of thir- 
teen boxes of muskets belonging to the party, by the government 
authorities, and other unfavorable events, conspired to make the 
men impatient, and they then insisted on crossing immediately, 
without waiting for reinforcements from Michigan. General 
Bierce, the commander-in-chief, told them it would be folly to 
go without an extensive addition to their numbers ; but General 
Putnam, a Canadian refugee, and Colonel Harvell, a Kentuckian, 
pursued an opposite course. On the 4th of December, three 
weeks after the battle of Prescott, one hundred and sixty-four 
men crossed over from Detroit, and landed on the Canada shore. 
In two divisions, they marched to Windsor, attacked the military 
barracks, shouting " Remember Prescott," and crossing guns 
with the enemy, through the windows, fought with determined 
courage for about forty minutes, until the barracks were on fire, 
and then the British force surrendered, having lost about thirty 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 85 

men in killed and wounded. Eight of the patriots were killed, 
and seven wounded. 

The latter were conveyed, in small boats, to Detroit, where 
General Hugh Brady, of the United States army, attempted to 
prevent their landing ; but the people on the wharf, disregarding 
his drawn sword, and threats to cut them down, soon convinced 
him that a ducking in the river would be the consequence of 
persisting in his inhuman conduct. 

Securing their prisoners, the patriots resumed their march, 
and, on reaching the centre of the town, encountered the troops 
from Sandwich. A fire was opened by both parties, and the 
British were soon driven back into an orchard, where they took 
position behind a fence, while the patriots made their way 
through a gate, incurring a most deadly fire. Then followed a 
skirmishing fight, until the British were reinforced by 200 regu- 
lars from Maiden. This reinforcement cut off the rear-guard of 
the patriots, and forced Putnam to retreat to the woods back of 
the town. On the retreat, his party were exposed to a very hot 
fire, and General Putnam himself was shot dead in the act of 
getting over a fence. His aid likewise fell, with the patriot 
standard in his hands, which he wrapped around his body and 
expired. The gallant Harvell refused to retreat, but drawing 
his bowie-knife, faced the enemy, declaring that he would never 
surrender. He was instantly shot down. A few of the party 
escaped to the American shore, some perished in the woods, and 
the remainder were hunted and captured by the British and In- 
dians. Four of them were made prisoners in the neighborhood. 
Of these Colonel John Prince, a fiend in human shape, in his 
official account, remarks : " Of the brigands and pirates, twenty- 
one were killed, besides four, who were brought in just at the 
close, and immediately after the engagement; all of whom I or- 
dered to he sJiot upon the spot, and it was doru> accordingly.^^ 

The rear-guard of the patriots, which had beeti separated from 
the main body on the arrival of the regulars, from Maiden, seized 
upon such canoes as they could find, and crossed over to Hog 
Island, where Major Payne, of the United States army, who had 
command of the steamboat Erie, ordered Ms men to fire upon 
them, which was done ! Several American citizens only escaped 
death by taking refuge behind the trees, so sharp was this firing 
on the part of United States troops ! 

Of the prisoners taken, Joshua G. Doan, Daniel (or Charles) 
Kennedy, Cornelius Cunningham, Hiram B. Linn, Davis D. 
Bedford, Albert Clark, and Julius Perley, were tried by court- 



86 CAPTIVITV AND ADVENTUKLS OF 

martial and executed at London, Upper Canada, and eighteen 
others became our companions on board the Buffalo. The fol- 
lowing is a list of their names, those marked with a star having since 
died : — 

Names. -^g^- Residence. 

James M. Atchison, 28 .. London, Upper Canada. 

Henry V. Barnum, 25 . . Long Point, " " 

James DeWitt Fero, 25 . . " " " 

John L. Gutridge, 30 . . Cleveland, Ohio. 

Robert Marsh, 25 . . Detroit, Michigan, 

Michael Murray, 32 . . Lockport, New York. 

William Nottage,* 38 .. Amherst, Ohio. 

Samuel Snow, 38 .. Strongville, Ohio, 

Eleazer Stevens, 27 .. Lebanon, New York. 

John Sprague, 23 . . Amherst, Ohio. 

Riley M. Stewart, 31 .. Avon, '' 

Alvin B. Sweety 22 . . Windfield, New York. 

John H. Simons,* 23 .. Lockport, " 

Chauncey Sheldon, 57 ., Utica, Michigan. 

John B. Tirrell, 24 . . St. Thomas, Upper Canada. 

John C. Williams, 38 . . Rochester, New York. 

James R. Williams,* .... 24 .. Cleveland, Ohio. 

E. C. Woodman, 42 . . London, Upper Canada. 

I account for the 182 men engaged in the battle of Prescott 
as follows: Killed, 17; wounded, and afterwards died, 3; es- 
caped before the surrender, 5; executed, 11; pardoned, 64; 
discharged without a trial, 22 ; transported in the Buffalo, 60 ; 
total, 182. 

A brief description of the Buffalo will be necessary in order to 
convey to the reader an idea of our new home. She had a full 
poop-deck, which extended before the mizenmast, and under 
which were the great cabin and the state-rooms for the officers. 
Forward there was a topgallant forecastle, divided into two gal- 
leys, or cook-housess Before the mainmast, and abaft the f )re- 
mast, there were two strong gratings or barricades, of oak, lined 
with iron, and about eight feet high. In the midships of this 
space, the long boat and spare spars were stowed, leaving about 
eight feet space of gangways on each side. On the quarter-deck, 
she mounted six nine-pounders, carriage guns, but as she was 
pierced with ports fore and aft, it is reasonable to suppose that 
she had guns below, which, if required, could easily be hoisted 
on deck, and mounted. Her between-decks, and the squares 
of her hatchways, were also gratined oft*, having only small doors 
of communication with the deck above. Forward there was a 
sick bay, or doctor's shop, and the other parts of the deck were 
fitted for the accommodation of the sailors, marines, and soldiers, 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. KEUSTIS. 87 

each class, however, occupying distinct divisions. In the hold, 
about seven feet below the between-decks, was a platform-deck, 
constructed of rough deals, laid on the ballast, and stanchioned 
down. In the v/ings were two tiers of berths, each berth designed 
for the reception of four persons. A grating extended fore 
and aft, and the squares of the hatchways were also barricaded. 
This place was to be the home of 149 prisoners, during a long 
and monotonous voyage at sea. It did not afford room for us 
all to stand, and some were obliged to occupy the berths, day 
and night, being relieved at suitable intervals. We had no air 
except what came down the hatchway. Abaft, the hold was 
stowed with stores, provisions, and water. Such was the ship 
Buffalo. The officers, sailors, soldiers, and marines, together 
with a few women and children, numbered 141, making the 
whole number on board 281. 

The ship was immediately taken in tow by a steamer, and we 
glided swiftly down the River St. Lawrence. We then had an 
opportunity of writing to our friends, which several of our com- 
pany gladly embraced. In brief letters, I bid farewell to those 
near and dear to me, informing them of my situation, and the 
probable destination of the ship. Our letters were forwarded by 
the pilot, and those I wrote were duly received by my friends. 
A dark and gloomy prospect was now before us; we were 
captives, and a life of slavery, under cruel taskmasters, in a 
distant penal colony, was to be our future destiny. But I never 
despaired of visiting again the home of my childhood, and the 
friends I loved. This hope, more or less strong in all our hearts, 
served to buoy up our spirits, in some measure, during the whole 
of our imprisonment. But, alas ! many of our companions closed 
their eyes in death, without realizing it ! They sleep in a 
land of strangers, with no stone to mark the spot where they 
lie, and no kind friend to shed a sorrowing tear over their graves! 

The prisoners were divided into messes. Each mess consist- 
ed of twelve men, who were directed to choose from their own 
number a captain. I was selected for that office by the ninth 
mess, and my duty consisted in superintending the labor assigned 
to my messmates, and in the exercise of a general supervision 
in regard to them. Our platform-deck was holystoned, and our 
quarters cleaned, every morning, each mess in its turn perform- 
ing that duty. Our berth-boards, too, were occasionally white- 
washed; but, notwithstanding these salutary regulations, our 
quarters were infested with vermin, such as cockroaches, fleas, 
and the like. The ship had probably been employed in the 



88 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

sugar trade, in which she had taken on board, as usual, an am- 
ple supply of vermin to last her as long as she would be able to 
float. At first, we wet-holystoned our deck, by sprinkling water 
and sand on the planks, and then kneeling and rubbing them 
with freestones, until every particle of dirt had been loosened, 
after which they were washed with water, and then dried up with 
swabs. The ship's doctor soon discovered that wet holystoning 
was injurious to our health, and he therefore substituted the dry 
operation, which consisted in rubbing the deck as before, without 
using water. The dust created by this method of cleaning, was 
almost as bad as the dampness of wet holystoning, but cleanli- 
ness was indispensable, and the last alternative was adopted and 
adhered to throughout the voyage. 

Our fare was scanty and bad. We lived, to use a sailor's 
phrase, six upon four ; that is, the usual allowance for four ma- 
rines had to serve six prisoners. Skilly, composed of oat-meal, 
bran, and dust, mixed with boiling water, was our breakfast ; and 
this stuff was almost as black as the kids in which it was served 
out. We had neither plates nor spoons, to eat with, but were 
under the necessity of dipping a piece of biscuit into the kid, 
and licking therefrom the skilly which adhered to it. Each mess 
had its kid, containing six quarts, or a pint for each man, around 
which, at meal times, a circle was formed, to enable us all to 
partake of the glorious feast ! We could heartily exclaim, in 
the language of Wackford Squeers, as he gave the well-diluted 
milk to one of the pupils of his celebrated school at Do-the-boys 
Hall, "here's richness!" For dinner, we had pork and pea 
soup one day, and beef and duff the next. The pork was 
not as bad as it might have been, but the beef had doubtless 
served an apprenticeship of seven years at Gibraltar, besides 
going two or three voyages around the world, before it was 
opened for our use. It was salt as brine, hard as Pharaoh's 
heart, and about as nutritious as wooden nutmegs. For supper, 
we had some fair cocoa. Add to the foregoing luxuries half a 
pound of biscuit, and a quart of water, for each man, and you 
have our daily bill of fare during the voyage. I cannot, however, 
leave the biscuit without mentioning its quality. Whether it was 
originally composed of rye, ground peas, oat-meal, or of all to- 
gether, I cannot positively assert. It was so hard, coarse, and 
unpalatable, that there would have been no danger of our grow- 
ing dyspeptic upon it, if it had been perfectly clean. But when 
we found there was a peculiar feline odor attached to it, indi- 
cating that it had been in the vicinity of cats, we felt little incli- 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 89 

nation to eat it. On this disgusting fare, our bodies and souls 
were expected to keep company during a long and changeful 
voyage. 

Before we cleared the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the ship encoun- 
tered a violent storm. Although down in the ship's hold, and 
consequently less exposed to motion than those on deck, we 
could hear the rushing of the waves, as they bounded to leeward, 
or broke in foaming fury over the deck. The shrill screaming 
of the boatswain's whistle, — followed by his hoarse voice, bellow- 
ing forth, " All hands reef topsails," or some other order, — rose 
high and dismal amid the wailing of the tempest. Our situation 
below was extremely nauseous and suffocating. The hatches 
were battened down, which excluded the air, and two thirds of 
our number were vomiting with sea-sickness. I was one of the 
first to be attacked by this horrid sickness, and for more than 
one hundred days it kept me in misery. I can truly say, that of 
all the disagreeable sensations I ever experienced, not one can 
be compared with sea-sickness. 

The storm gradually subsided into a steady breeze from the 
northward, and once more the gallant ship, under a press of sail, 
was gliding along to the southeastward. We were allowed one 
hour on deck each day, twenty-four at a time, and in this hour, 
on regular days, we had to wash our clothes. The part of the 
deck allotted to us was amidships, on the lee side, between the 
gratined barricades, already described. On the long-boat amid- 
ships, on the quarter-deck and forecastle, and at every other 
point that commanded a view of us, armed sentinels were placed, 
whose duty it was to watch our motions. When we wanted to 
smoke, a light was passed to us through the forward grating; 
upon no pretence whatever were any of us allowed outside of the 
barriers that separated us from the rest of the ship's company. 
For several days after the recent storm, I felt too sick to take 
much interest in what was transpiring around me, when on deck, 
but I could not avoid reflecting upon the loneliness of our situa- 
tion on the waste of waters by which we were surrounded. Day 
followed day, and still the scene was unchanged ; sky and water 
bounded the view, above and around us. The weather was 
rough and variable, after we cleared the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
and the ship made slow progress to the southward. To my mind, 
there appeared little hope of escape from the doom that awaited 
us. It was said, by some of the more sanguine among us^ that 
as the ship must traverse more than half the ocean, some lucky 
accident might occur, that would restore us to liberty. As 



90 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

drowning men catch at straws, so does the fettered prisoner stand 
ready to grasp the first shadow which promises deliverance. 

We had not been long at sea before we discovered that we 
M^ere not regarded as felons by the ship's company, and although 
we were narrowly guarded, no one felt himself disgraced by 
holding familiar conversation with us, when an opportunity of- 
fered, while we were on deck. Having a little money left, sev- 
eral of us bought mess utensils, such as spoons, knives, and pan- 
nakins, from the soldiers who kept guard over us. In this way, 
after a time, we were enabled to eat our food more like men. 
This addition to our comfort soon created a stir among the 
sailors, w^ho, as we increased our stores, found that theirs dimin- 
ished in the same proportion. It turned out that the soldiers 
had stolen from the sailors the articles they had sold to us. This 
was reported to the officer of the deck, who immediately com- 
pelled us to return our newly-acquired table furniture to the 
rightful owners. Not disheartened by this summary proceeding, 
we again opened trade with the soldiers, and soon supplied our- 
selves with a similar assortment of mess utensils, which we were 
allowed to keep. 

Among our number were several sea-faring men, who had 
closely examined the various arrangements of the ship, and had 
distantly sounded the disposition of the sailors towards the 
prisoners. These men, after studying the characters of their 
messmates, cautiously communicated to such as they thought 
could be relied upon, a scheme for taking possession of the ship. 
Such of our mess as were made acquainted with the plan, pledged 
themselves to cooperate, heart and hand, in the undertaking. 
The utmost secrecy was enjoined, until the arrangements should 
be finally completed, and a proper organization elfected. 

The night at last arrived on which the arrangements of our 
daring enterprise were matured, preparatory to carrying them 
into eflfect the next morning. Notwithstanding we were prohib- 
ited from leaving our beds, after eight o'clock, and were watched 
by an armed sentinel, who had a light placed in such a position 
that he could observe all our motions, one of the principal leaders 
managed to crawl from berth to berth, for the purpose of assign- 
ing to each the duty expected of him the next morning. 

In the morning, if the chance of success was in our favor, the 
leader of the party whose turn it was on deck, by a concerted 
sign, was to communicate the fact to those who followed ; then, 
as the last man was passing through the door, an impediment to 
'ts closing was to be inserted, and while the sentinel's attention 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 91 

was engaged in removing it, he was to be seized, disarmed, 
gagged, and thrust back into the hold, which would enable those 
below to rush hastily on deck. In the mean time, those already 
up, leaving a guard of six men to protect the fore hatchway, were 
to rush aft, in a body, secure the small-arms racked in front of 
the poop, block up the main hatchway, cabin doors, and every 
outlet from below, except the fore hatchway, which would be in 
our possession. Serious opposition from the sailors was not ex- 
pected ; besides, only one watch would be on deck, and as for 
the greater part of the soldiers and marines, they would also be 
below, leaving only the regular sentinels and the officers of the 
deck, at different points, to be overcome. The possession of one 
side of the deck would be sufficient to enable us to keep the 
communication open below, until all our comrades were up, and 
then, even if all the watch and officers were armed, we could not 
fail of clearing the decks, by a simultaneous rush fore and aft, 
armed with belaying-pins, heavers, boarding-pikes, or whatever 
small-arms we could capture. We knew, moreover, that one of 
the great guns was always loaded with blank cartridge, as a sig- 
nal gun, into which a cannister of grape could soon be inserted, 
and then, pointed aft, it could easily command the cabin. Once 
in possession of the deck, we designed that all, excepting such 
of the crew as we could control, should be sent into the hold, 
and there guarded, while we shaped our course for New York. 
No violence was intended, beyond what was absolutely riecessary 
to the success of our enterprise. We had seamen enough among 
our number to work and navigate the vessel ; but, as the ship's 
company, generally, were kind to us, we were willing to employ 
such of them as we could persuade to lend us a hand. The 
morning was considered the most favorable time, as then the 
forenoon watch would be below, while the soldiers and marines 
would be busy in cleaning themselves and clearing up their 
messes. The greatest opposition was expected from the officers, 
who, if we were not quick in securing the cabin, would sally out 
with their side-arms and pistols from the poop, and open a com- 
munication with the main hatchway ; hence the design of three- 
fourths of our number being detached to secure these important 
points, and the muskets in front of the poop. Our main object 
in obtaining possession of the fire-arms, was, to prevent the crew 
or soldiers from using them, for we had no prospect of reaching 
the magazine to obtain powder. The boarding-pikes, and what- 
ever we could pick up about the decks, were deemed of far more 
importance, in a hand-to-hand encounter, than fire-arms. 



92 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

These details were skilfully arranged ; and each man of the 
morning party on deck, to whom had been intrusted the duty 
of commencing operations, knew what was expected of him. 
Here, then, was a chance for liberty; indeed, the precious boon 
seemed almost within our grasp. Before another sun had set, 
not a man, acquainted with our plot, doubted that we should be 
free. No fears about our success crossed my mind ; nor did a 
thought of personal danger shade the path before us. Still, I 
was not free from anxiety. Every hour and half-hour that was 
struck, seemed to sound nearer and nearer, as the time ap- 
proached. The relieving of the sentinels, the calling of the 
watch, and every movement about the decks, attracted my atten- 
tion. Even the ticking of my watch, and the breathing of my 
comrades, during the silent hours of that sleepless night, were 
sounds not unheeded. 

The breakfast hour arrived, and in the bustle incident to the 
assembling of the several messes around their respective kids, 
our sea-faring comrades, who were the soul of the approaching 
enterprise, by silent signs encouraged us to hope, that, if true to 
ourselves, our captivity was near its close. '* Firm and true," 
could have been read in the face of every man appealed to. 
Never was an insipid meal eaten by men filled with higher hopes 
than those which lighted up the countenances of the party who 
were expected, in a few minutes, to strike the first blow for our 
liberty. Dissimulate as they would, there was still perceptible, 
in all their acts, a restlessness which betrayed their feelings. 
Perhaps my own anxiety, which was now bordering on enthu- 
siasm, might have led me to judge others by myself. Be this as 
it may, one fact, at least, seemed certain, namely, that our leaders 
were fully determined to carry out their designs, or perish in the 
attempt. Breakfast was at last despatched, the mess utensils 
cleared away, the deck cleaned, and every thing in order, ac- 
cording to the rules of the ship. We sauntered about, endeavor- 
ing to appear as unconcerned as usual, and speaking, occasion- 
ally, to those who were not intrusted with the scheme of our in- 
tended movements. As our rising was an affair of life and death, 
none but men of known integrity were trusted. Eighty good and 
true men were deemed sufficient to take possession of the ship, 
as our mode of attack was arranged ; but we supposed, at the 
same time, that those whom we did not trust with the secret in 
advance, would not be idle spectators when the fray had been 
commenced. When their own liberty is at stake, it requires but 
little effort to rouse brave men to action. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 9"^ 

Eight bells (eight o'clock) were struck, and now the hour had 
come. Another minute, and we should be mustered on deck ; 
in fact, we could hear the sergeant's tread along the between- 
decks, walking forward to open our prison door. It was the ser- 
geant ; I could see him through the gratings ; and novv, high 
heaven assist us, we crave but liberty ! A few moments will de- 
cide our fate ! 

He descended, — my heart sinks while I record it, — hot to 
open our door, but to double the sentinels, and to oversee the 
securing of the hatchway ! Not one word did he speak to us, or 
we to him. He left us to our own reflections. Hours and days 
passed away, and not a soul was permitted to go on deck ; and 
even when the requirements of nature rendered it necessary that 
we should go to the water-closets, which were in the between- 
decks, we were strictly guarded by marines. It was evident that 
our scheme had been discovered by the treachery of some of our 
comrades. This, to a great extent, destroyed our confidence in 
each other, and very few words were exchanged upon the subject. 
Every night. Captain Wood, attended by the officer of the deck 
and the surgeon, visited our prison, after we were in bed, to sat- 
isfy himself that all was right below. Nor was a single individ- 
ual, on any pretence, after a certain hour, permitted to leave his 
bed. This order was rigorously enforced throughout the voyage. 

Every day our situation was becoming more wretched. At 
last, by way of opening a communication with the captain, we 
ventured to question the sentinels about the cause of our being 
excluded from the deck. They informed us that two of the civil 
prisoners had overheard some conversation between our leaders, 
which let them into the secret of our plot ; and, doubtless in the 
hope of receiving a free pardon as the reward of their treachery, 
they communicated the information, thus acquired, to the officers 
of the ship, which was the cause of our being confined below. 
The names of our betrayers were William Hiland and Edwin 
Merritt ; one of them had been convicted of the crime of steal- 
ing, and the other of murder. I left them at Van Dieman's 
Land, in irons, and there they deserve to remain, as long as they 
live. 

After consultation, it was agreed that a letter should be ad- 
dressed to the captain of the ship, in which the good conduct of 
the men should be solemnly pledged, if they could again be al- 
lowed to go on deck. This letter was signed by James M. 
Atchison, Orin W. Smith, John Thomas, and Daniel D. Heustis. 
Captain Wood, who was really a kind man, complied with our 



94 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

request so far as to allow twelve men on deck at a time, instead 
of twenty-four, but he took care that they should be well sur- 
rounded by armed sentinels. 

On the 18th of October, after we had been twenty days at sea, 
and while we were on the Banks of Newfoundland, Asa Priest, 
one of my messmates, died. His complaint was a broken heart. 
The thought of being separated from his wife and children, and 
compelled to drag out a miserable existence among convicts, in 
a land far away from home and its endearments, was too much 
for him. He made no complaints, but the slow progress of the 
canker which was eating at his soul was plainly visible. Grad- 
ually he pined away and died. He was forty-five years of age, 
and belonged to Auburn, New York, where he left a family. 

The body was sewed up in a hammock and carried on deck. 
All his messmates, and the captains of the other messes, were 
permitted to witness the funeral rites. The body, with two shots 
slung to the lower end of the hammock, was laid on a grating 
resting on the lee gangway, and was covered with an English 
union jack. The decks were cleared up, and all hands, except 
those on immediate duty, were summoned, by the tolling of the 
ship's bell, to attend the burial of the dead. The captain and 
officers, in uniform, stood on the break of the quarter-deck, and 
the rest of the people were ranged along the gangways. The 
burial service of the Church of England was read in a clear and 
impressive manner, and, as it drew toward the close, the main- 
topsail was hove aback, the ensign hoisted half-mast, and the 
words, " we therefore commit his body to the deep," were ut- 
tered, when the grating was raised, and all that remained of our 
lamented comrade was launched into the ocean. A moment's 
pause ensued, as if to afford us the melancholy chance of hearing 
the last ripples that closed over the departed, before orders were 
given to fill the maintopsail, and pipe the watch down. For days 
afterwards this sad event occupied our minds, and the many 
excellent traits in the character of our deceased friend passed 
in review before us, and formed the chief topic of conversation. 
Our thoughts were also turned to his bereaved family ; we pic- 
tured to ourselves the heart-rending scene, when the sorrowful 
story should he communicated to the wife and children he was no 
more to visit on earth, and many silent prayers arose, that Heaven 
would protect and sustain the widow and the orphans, in the time 
of trouble. 

After knocking about for several weeks, on different tacks, 
we at last caught the northeast trade winds. Studding-sails on 



CArTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 95 

both sides, fore and aft, watersails, ringtails, and skysails, were 
spread to the breeze, and beautifully did the noble ship skim 
along the deep. In watching her motions, during my *' brief 
hour " on deck, I sometimes almost forgot that I was a prisoner, 
so delightful was it to contemplate her onward course, under a 
cloud of canvas. The ocean was alive with fish ; whales, por- 
poises, black-fish, dolphins, sharks, and hosts of others, were seen 
sporting around us, far as the eye could reach. At last, we run 
the trades down, or, in other words, the northeast wind died 
away and left us becalmed, two or three degrees north of the 
equator. Our situation below now became truly terrible. The 
heat had warmed into life myriads of vermin, that no cleanliness 
on our part could prevent from preying upon us. Cockroaches, 
ants, and flies, mingled even with our scanty fare ; and, as if our 
bread was not bad enough before, maggots and other animalcules 
made it their home. At night, the heat was extremely suffoca- 
ting; yet not a man was permitted to leave his berth, although 
many of us prayed for permission to lie on the decks. 

Two or three days wore away, without our making the slight- 
est progress on the voyage ; the ship lay wallowing in the long 
undulating swell, entirely unmanageable. At times, a cat's paw 
would darken the edge of the horizon, but would invariably melt 
away before it freshened into a breeze. On the night of the 
fourth day, we had lightning, thunder, and rain, but no wind. 
And such rain and thunder! The' sailors swore, the next day, 
that they had to swim about the decks in rainwater, and that the 
thunder might have shaken out the teeth of a handsaw. Squalls 
and rain followed, until we crossed the equator. Many times the 
ship was almost surrounded with waterspouts. I saw four of 
these, so close together that they appeared to form three arches 
and pillars, supporting a dark cloud, while the water boiled and 
foamed around their bases. When about crossing the equator, 
the old salts were busy preparing tools for shaving the green- 
horns ; but Captain Wood would not permit this time-honored 
practice to be enforced on board his ship ; hence Neptune re- 
ceived no honors from the Buffalo. 

At last, we were favored with the southeast trade winds, and 
soon cleared the sultry weather of the tropics. Nothing worthy 
of notice occurred, until we cast anchor at Rio Janeiro, in the 
latter part of November. The harbor of Rio Janeiro is said to 
be the most beautiful in the world. In it might ride securely the 
navies of all nations. Nor is the scenery around it surpassed in 
beauty and sublimity by any that I ever saw. More than a 



96 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

hundred islands, of various shapes and sizes, adorn the bosom of 
the capacious bay, and form a natural breakwater, that leaves 
the inner harbor smooth as a lake, however angry the ocean may 
foam and swell without. Hills piled upon hills, rising in pic- 
turesque gradation from the beach till they seem to rest against 
the sky, form the frame-work of this finest of nature's paintings. 
The city itself, its fortifications, the spires of its numerous 
churches, and the whitened houses, as seen from the ship, looked 
very well in the foreground, relieved with many beautiful villas, 
that were nestled among the hills and along the margin of the 
bay. Of course, a prisoner on board of a ship cannot be expected 
to give a minute description of the city. I have only attempted 
to sketch things as they appeared to me from the place where 
they were seen. 

While we remained in port, the emperor's birthday was cele- 
brated with uncommon splendor. All the vessels in the har- 
bor — and among them almost every Christian maritime nation 
was represented — were ornamented with flags and streamers. 
The foreign ships of war wore the Brazilian flag at the fore, and 
were also clothed with colors from the trucks to the rails. Boats 
innumerable, filled with people from the shore, singing and 
waving flags, were continually rowing and sailing about the bay. 
Ashore, the batteries belched forth their thunder, which was an- 
swered by the ships of war, who manned their yards at the same 
time. All Rio Janeiro was boiling over with joy, excepting us 
poor prisoners, whose misery was increased by the contrast. 

When the sea-breeze set in, one of the English ships of war 
(I believe it was the Stag frigate) got underway, and attempted 
to work out of the harbor; but, after making half a dozen tacks, 
the wind became so baffling that she mis-stayed twice or thrice, 
and actually fell to leeward of the point from which she started. 
Of course she came to an anchor. Another English vessel (I 
think she was called the Bullion, but am not certain) made a 
like attempt, and also failed. Ere the latter had furled her sails, 
an American brig of war was seen to leeward of the frigates, 
stretching across the bay, her long pennant streaming out from 
the main, and the stripes and stars waving proudly from the peak. 
Most beautifully did she thread her way among the fleet of mer- 
chant vessels, and, when in stays, came round like a pilot-boat, 
darting to windward without impeding her headway. Thus she 
worked dead to windward, in the teeth of a strong sea-breeze, 
until she had passed out to sea. Then her yards were squared, 
and she came in before the wind, with studding-sails on both 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 97 

sides, skimming along like a sea-gull, until she reached within a 
cable's length of her anchorage, when, as if by magic, at the or- 
der, " shorten sail," even before the echo of the words had died 
away, every stitch of canvas disappeared, and once more, head to 
wind, she was riding at her anchors. The American merchant- 
men in port manned their rigging, and gave the brig three cheers. 
Our captain, who was himself every inch a sailor, was heard to 
remark that he had never witnessed an exploit of that kind which 
displayed better seamanship. 

We were visited by the captains of the English vessels of war 
in port, who seemed to regard us rather as unlucky fellows than 
criminals. Here we had a couple of dinners of fresh beef and 
soup, and such as had the means were permitted to buy various 
kinds of fruit, from the boats which came alongside. 

After remaining in port five days, and replenishing our water 
and provisions, we got underway with the land breeze, and stood 
to sea. The wind was unfavorable for several days, and even at 
the end of a week we could still see the land under our lee. The 
ship at last was hove about, and stretched into the broad Atlantic, 
until all traces of the land had vanished beyond the horizon. 
Day after day, we saw ships under a press of canvas standing 
before the wind to the northward, and a few, like ourselves, close 
hauled, crossing the trades ; for, after we had obtained sufficient 
offing, the ship was once more headed to the south. 

One of the prisoners got into a dispute with one of the senti- 
nels, in the course of which language was used which the petty 
officer regarded as insulting, and he threatened to prefer a charge 
of insolence against the poor prisoner, and have him punished. 
The threatened individual went immediately to the sergeant of 
the guard, alleging that the sentinel was in the habit of selling 
rum to the prisoners. This charge being well substantiated, the 
soldier's complaint received no attention, but his own misconduct 
procured him three dozen lashes on the bare back, in man-o'-war 
style. This, I believe, was the only instance of punishment 
which occurred during the voyage. From what little I saw of 
the sailors, I judged them to be a fine set of jovial fellows, active 
in the performance of their duty, and respectful to the officers. 
In the evenings, in fine weather, they had singing and story- 
telling, but our confined situation excluded us from making any 
observations upon the merits of their amusements. 

As we approached the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope, the 
weather became so boisterous and squally, that for several days 
we were not permitted to go on deck, as the sea frequently rolled 
5 



98 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN UEUSTIS. 

in over the gangways, filling the place allotted to us for breathing 
a little fresh air. Indeed, one night, the ship, while scudding 
before a gale, was suddenly taken aback, and fears were enter- 
tained that she would go down, stern foremost, before she could 
be boxed oif. At last we were favored with a strong westerly 
gale, and on the first day of January, 1840, we doubled the Cape 
of Good Hope. As we looked back to the many happy frolics 
we had enjoyed on New Year's Day, and contrasted the joyous 
sunshine of youth with the cloud of wretchedness which then 
overshadowed us, a feeling of uncommon sadness came over the 
heart. We thought of the many happy firesides, in our native 
land, around which little groups of merry souls would that day 
cluster, and is it strange that we sighed for *' home, sweet home"? 
During the year that had just closed, our home had been a dismal 
prison, and the future we hardly dared to contemplate. 

In this latitude, the sea was long and regular, but so high were 
the waves, that, as we descended between them, they seemed to 
tower over our stern, like tottering mountains, about to roll on 
board and crush us in their ruins. And again, when perched 
upon the giddy summits, the noble ship would tremble, and ap- 
pear to pause for a few seconds, and then descend again into the 
boiling valley, with such tremendous velocity as to becalm the 
sails, and make the inexperienced tremble for fear that she would 
never rise again ; but, buoyant as a bird, in the long lull between 
the waves she would recover herself, and again impelled onward, 
ascend the giddy height that foamed before her. Thus, for sev- 
eral days, she flew before the gale, under a close-reefed maintop- 
sail and a reefed foresail. The sailors caught several albatrosses 
and sea-gulls, many of which continued hovering about in the 
wake of the ship while the gale continued. 

We passed between St. Paul's and Amsterdam islands, but did 
not heave to, as ships generally do, to fish. During the rest of 
the voyage nothing woi^hy of recording occurred. On the 12th 
day of February we made St. Patrick's Head, a high sugar-loaf 
mountain, on Van Dieman's Land. The wind was unfavorable, 
but we reached the mouth of the River Derwent on the 14th. 
Here we took on board a pilot, and proceeded up the river. 
Just before sundown we cast anchor in the harbor of Hobart 
Town, having been 140 days on the passage from Quebec to 
Van Dieman's Land. 



99 



CHAPTER JX. 

The Disembarkation — A Speech from the Governor — Change 
of Clothes — Work on the Road — The Rations — Death and 
Burial of McLcod — Fruitless Endeavors to find his Grave — 
Lines by L. W. Miller — Deaths of McNulty, Van Camp, 
Curtis, Nottage, and Williams — An Attempt to escape, by 
Reynolds, Paddock, Cooley, and Murray — Their Capture and 
Sentence to Port Arthur — Interesting Incident — Sufferings 
of the Prisoners. 

The termination of the voyiige gave rise to mingled feelings 
of joy and pain in our bosoms. We longed to escape from the 
floating prison in which we had suffered such horrid deprivations, 
such intolerable sea-sickness, such annoyance from vermin, such 
suffocating heat, and such prolonged nauseous feelings as inev- 
itably resulted from our long confinement in a place so poorly 
ventilated. On the other hand, we knew not what treatment was 
in store for us after leaving the ship. Whether we should re- 
ceive such indulgence as is usually allowed to state prisoners, or 
be doomed to suffer the same punishment that is awarded to the 
vilest of criminals, was a problem yet remaining to be solved. 
Our past treatment did not afford us much ground for hope ; and 
we knew that the page of British history was blotted all over 
with dark spots of cruelty ; that England had always tortured 
those who had dared to oppose the extension and perpetuation 
of her rule in the four quarters of the globe. In view of these 
things, it was doubtful whether our situation would be much 
ameliorated on shore. 

On the morning of the 15th, the health officers came on board 
the Buffalo, for the purpose of inspecting the ship and inquiring 
about our health. They said it was a wonder we were not half 
dead, after being confined so long in such close quarters, and 
gave orders to have us sent on shore the next morning. Mr. 
Gunn, the principal superintendent of convicts, also paid us a 
visit, accompanied by his clerks, and took our descriptions, very 
minutely, and asked us a great many questions, like the follow- 
ing : *' What is your name? What is your trade? What is 
your age 1 What is your religion ? What is your father's name? 



100 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

Your mother's ? Have you any brothers and sisters? What are 
their names? Are you married ? What is your sentence? Can 
you read and write?" The answers to these and other questions 
were all recorded by the clerks in a large book. 

On the following morning, the 16th, before sunrise, Mr. Gunn 
sent a number of police constables, with boats, to superintend 
the landing of the prisoners. We were turned into a large yard, 
which enclosed the " Tench," or prisoners' barracks. At one 
end of the yard was a large church, the basement story of which 
was converted into cells; on one side were offices for the super- 
intendent and clerks, and a large hospital ; on the other side was 
the superintendent's dwelling-house ; and at the other end a block 
of buildings, containing a store-house, cook and bake-house, 
mess-room, treadmill, and barracks capable of holding fifteen 
hundred men. We were furnished with a breakfast of coarse 
bread and skilly, which convinced us that no improvement in 
the food allotted us could be expected there. 

At eleven o'clock. Sir John Franklin, Governor of Van Die- 
man's Land, and his attendants, paid us a visit, in company with 
Mr. Gunn, and Captain Wood, of the Buffalo. We were formed 
into a line, two deep, by a Yorkshire convict, who was to be our 
overseer, and, as the Governor approached, we were ordered to 
take off our hats. It was the first time I had ever uncovered my 
head to a servant of royalty, and if there had been any chance 
of successfully resisting the order, my Yankee blood would have 
prompted me to do it. But, situated as we were, unconditional 
submission, however revolting to our feelings, was the best policy. 
The Governor was a man of about the ordinary height, and of 
sufficient corpulency to indicate that his own larder was well 
supplied, whatever might be the fare meted out to the prisoners. 
A dark complexion, low forehead, dull hazel eyes, and large and 
prominent nose, mouth, and chin, presented some of the leading 
features of his countenance, in which it was impossible to dis- 
cern any indications of superior intellect. Clad in his official 
garb, he strutted about, " as large as life," apparently entertain- 
ing a most exalted opinion of himself, though in reality he was 
an imbecile old man, and was usually styled the " old granny." 
He made an edifying speech to us, in which he was pleased to 
say that we were very bad men, very bad, indeed; and intimated 
that we all deserved to be hung, and ought to be eternally grate- 
ful that such had not been our fate. He said we had been sent 
there for " one of the most aggravating crimes," putting much 
emphasis on the word " aggravating," and, at the same time, as 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 101 

if unwilling to look us in the face, rolled his eyes up to heaven, 
like a dying calf, in the hands of a butcher, if I may be allowed 
to use a comparison suggested by my former business. He as- 
sured us, however, that " good conduct should be rewarded." 
Captain Wood, in answer to a question as to our conduct during 
the voyage, said we had behaved remarkably well. In conclu- 
sion, the Governor told us he had received no orders from gov- 
ernment in relation to us, and that he should set us to work on 
the road until he could write and obtain instructions from Lord 
John Russell, as to what our treatment was to be, and when 
those instructions arrived he would inform us. 

As he was about leaving, Mr. Gunn observed that there were 
five civil prisoners who had been sent out with us. The Gover- 
nor inquired, for what crimes? The answer was murder, theft, 
arson, 6lc. Sir John then turned to these prisoners, and gave 
them a very severe lecture, telling them what their doom would 
be, but repeating his promise to us, that *' good conduct should 
be rewarded." 

After the Governor had left, one of the civil prisoners, who 
had shot a man for invading the sanctity of his domestic rela- 
tions, said he could not see the propriety of calling him a " mur- 
derer," when he had only shot one man, while some of us had 
probably shot twenty, and we were honorably denominated " po- 
litical prisoners." 

All our clothing, except the linen, was taken from us and 
placed in the government store-house, where we subsequently 
found a small portion of it, eaten and torn to pieces by the rats, 
and completely ruined. Another suit was furnished us, consist- 
ing of a pair of pantaloons, a vest, and jacket, made of coarse 
and unserviceable woollen cloth, of a dirty grey color. Such su- 
perflous things as pockets and collars were dispensed with. This 
was all we could have for six months, though it would not last 
half that time. We had a pair of slop-made shoes once in four 
months, but no stockings. The shoes were often worn out in 
less than two months, and then we had to go with bare feet, it 
being of no use to " ask for more," after the manner of Oliver 
Twist. Once in six months we had a coarse striped shirt, and 
had to go without any while we washed it. For the head we 
had a scull-cap, of leather, which fitted quite close. The fit of 
our clothes was a point about which very little thought was ex- 
pended by those who rigged out the new suits. They sat like 
the coat of Daniel Lambert on Calvin Edson, or, to use a com- 
mon expression, like a shirt on a bean-pole. 



102 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

For bedding, each man had a small tick, (which we filled with 
grass, not having any straw,) and two coarse blankets. Bed- 
steads were an article of furniture altogether too extravagant for 
our use. A tin plate, tin cup, and an iron spoon, for each man, 
completed the outfit. All these articles had " B. O." (board of 
ordnance,) and the broad arrow, or " devil's claw," as we used 
to call it, marked upon them, and were numbered. 

We were taken to the Sandy Bay Station, two miles below Ho- 
bart Town, on the River Derwent, where we were set to work 
on the road, on the morning of the 17th of February, 1840. We 
were all kept together, and not allowed to mix with other prison- 
ers, which we had no inclination to do. Some were made to 
draw cart-loads of gravel and stone. Twelve hundred pounds 
is a government load for five men, but the overseers more fre- 
quently put on fourteen or fifteen hundred. Others were com- 
pelled to wheel heavy loads in wheel-barrows. In this way we 
were kept at work from sunrise till sundown, with an intermis- 
sion of one hour for dinner, being driven by some of the vilest 
convicts, who had been made our overseers. In the long days, 
we had half an hour for breakfast, at 8 o'clock. One day we 
were driven a distance amounting to twenty-nine miles, drawing 
loaded carts one half the way. The average distance we were 
made to travel, in this manner, was about twenty miles each day. 

Our food consisted of one pound and five ounces of coarse 
bread, baked in the most indifferent manner, three fourths of a 
pound of fresh meat, half a pound of potatoes, and half an ounce 
of salt, with two ounces of flour for skilly in the morning, and 
the same at night. This was the daily ration for each man, 
without variation, from one end of the year to the other. The 
meat was boiled, or half boiled, and the broth served us for 
drink. From a pint of this broth, it was frequently no diflicult 
matter to scrape off a spoonful of maggots. It may be proper to 
remark, that a peculiar kind of fly is found at Van Dieman's 
Land. It is considerably larger than our common house-fly, and, 
instead of depositing an egg, or fly-blow, on a piece of meat, to 
be hatched, it leaves a small but perfect maggot. By killing the 
fly these small maggots can be found in the body. One day, our 
meat was so full of this live stock that we refused to touch it. It 
was exhibited to the doctor of the Station, who said it was un- 
wholesome, and we need not eat it. Nothing was substituted, 
however, and we had no meat for that day's dinner. 

There were two sets of weights at the Station, one to buy with, 
and another to weigh out the rations, the former being much the 



CAPTAIN' DANIEL D, HEUSTTS. lOtJ 

heaviest. Every Saturday, the salt for the coming week was 
weighed out, for all the men on the Station. I was sent after it 
for four weeks in succession, and, as we had a new superintendent, 
who did not know the diiference between the weights, I succeed- 
ed in weighing it with the heavy one for three weeks. The 
fourth time, the superintendent having put in the light weight, I 
changed it, which he noticed, and asked me why I did it. My 
answer not being satisfactory, he put the two weights into the 
opposite ends of the scales, and discovered the reason of my 
shifting them. He then deducted what I had overdrawn for the 
last three weeks, which left me but a small allowance to convey 
to my companions. 

We found at Van Dieman's Land ten prisoners, who were 
taken at Short Hills, Canada, and had arrived some time be- 
fore us, by way of England. Their names were Linus W. Mil- 
ler, John Grant, James Gemmel, John Vernon, James Wag- 
goner, Horace Cooley, Norman Mallory, Samuel Chandler, Ben- 
jamin Waite, and Jacob Beemer. Alexander McLeod, John J. 
McNulty, and Garret Van Camp, belonging to the same party, 
died shortly after reaching the Island, and before our arrival. 
McLeod was a noble specimen of the human race, and invariably 
won the confidence of his associates, and the sympathy even of 
his opponents. After his death, the surgeon of the hospital said 
to Mr. Wait, "I wish to heaven I could have saved him, but he 
came too late for our skill. I never saw as perfect a model of a 
man as his, and I am sorry to say that I candidly believe him to 
have fallen a victim to the barbarity of the surgeon of the ship, 
who ought to be placed in the same situation that a dozen of his 
men are already in, since landing." 

Mr. Wait, in his interesting Letters from Van Dieman's Land, 
informs us that, five days after McLeod's death, a number of pris- 
oners who had come in the same ship with him, from England, 
were sent to the hospital to bury the dead. They found the body 
on a table, cut in many pieces, with the entrails lying beside it. 
They gathered the pieces together and put them in a coffin of 
rough boards, and behold, it was poor McLeod, whom they all 
knew and respected. The scene was revolting, but there was no 
alternative. They carried him away and laid him in a stranger's 
grave, among felons, with no mark to distingnish the spot from 
the thousands of mounds around him. 

Four years afterwards, Linus W. Miller, having obtained per- 
mission to visit Hobart Town, spent considerable time in fruit- 
less endeavors to discover the resting-place of his friend. The 



104 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

prisoners had it in contemplation to erect a grave-stone, as a sim- 
ple tribute to the worth of their departed companion. When 
compelled to abandon all hope of finding the grave, Mr. Miller 
sat down and penned the following lines, which were published 
in the Colonial Times, printed at Hobart Town. The con- 
cluding stanzas are exceedingly appropriate and beautiful: — 

I sought the grave of my friend, 

Amid the slumb'ring dead ; 
In the yard where outcast men 

Are doomed to lay their head ; 

Where the wronged and injured lie, 

Neglected and forgot, 
And the raven's mournful cry 

Alone bewails their lot ; 

Where the felon finds at last 

An end to sin and crime, 
His weary pilgrimage passed. 

And sorrow healed in time ; 

Where the free and bond both sleep. 

In earth's cold, dismal cell ; 
And the jailer, Death, doth keep 

And tend his pris'ners well. 

I sought in vain the place 

Where they had made his bed ; 
The sexton had left no trace 

Of the forgotten dead. 

Stranger ! wouldst thou wish to hear 

Why I thus sought that grave, 
To mingle a comrade's tear 

With ashes of the brave ? 

'T was to bid him sweetly rest, 

Though in a foreign land ; 
And plant a rose on his breast, 

Culled by a comrade's hand. 

To erect an humble stone 

In honor of the brave. 
With this inscribed thereon : 

'■'•This is a Patriot's grated 

McNulty died of consumption, and Van Camp from an injury 
received wliile drawing a cart! Thus they escaped British 
thraldom through the grave. They were upright men, and much 
esteemed by their companions. 

A few weeks after our arrival, Lysander Curtis, whose health 
was quite feeble during the voyage, and who had been allowed 
to pass a ^evt days in the hospital, was again sot to work, and 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 105 

compelled to wheel heavy loads. He was often under the neces- 
sity of setting down his barrow to rest. The overseer, a convict- 
ed felon, named Thomas Hewit, would then utter some horrid 
oath, and threaten to send the poor man to the cells, if he did not 
go on with his work. In the afternoon, one day, he sat down 
his barrow, completely exhausted, and said he could go no fur- 
ther. He told the overseer he was sick, and could not wheel his 
load. " D — n your bloody eyes, wheel it or die by it ; I don't 
care which ! " was the inhuman taskmaster's reply. Poor Curtis 
again attempted to wheel the barrow, but soon fainted. A com- 
rade threw some water in his face, and, when he recovered, he 
said, "I feel that my stay in this world will be short; I do not 
regret it, for it is better to die than to live here." Several of the 
prisoners spoke to Hewit, begging that Curtis might be allowed 
to go to the Station, but received nothing but oaths in reply. He 
lay on the ground till night, when he was carried in. During the 
night he was very sick, and at one time was thought to be dying. 
In the morning, the superintendent ordered that he be taken to 
the hospital in a hand-cart. When he left, a tear stole down his 
cheek, as he said to his comrades, " Farewell ! we shall not meet 
again ; but write for me to my poor friends. O ! this is indeed 
very hard to bear ! " He lingered a few days in the hospital, and 
then his earthly sorrows terminated in the sleep of death. None 
of us were allowed to visit him ; he had no sympathizing friends 
around his dying bed, to minister to his wants, and offer consola- 
tion in the hour of final dissolution. We were not even permitted 
to see the corpse, or to witness its interment. The next Sunday, 
we cut up some black silk handkerchiefs into strips, and tied 
them round our arms, as a token of respect for our departed com- 
rade. As we were marched up to church, two by two, with these 
badges of mourning on our arms, we encountered the vile sneers 
and derision of the by-standers, who looked upon the death of a 
prisoner as of no more consequence than the death of a dog! 

After we had been there about three months, William Not- 
tage, one of the Windsor prisoners, was blown up, by the explo- 
sion of a charge of powder, which he was drilling out of a rock. 
He was badly cut to pieces, and was taken to the hospital, where 
he lived but a few days, suffering great agony. He was from 
Amherst, Ohio, where he left a family, to whom this afflictive 
event must have been peculiarly distressing. 

About this time, several of us were severely troubled with sore 
eyes. For four or five weeks I could hardly see, and the pain 
was intense. Nevertheless, I was kept at work all the time. The 
5* 



106 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

doctor would lift up our eyelids and rub in blue vitriol, which 
was enough to take a man's life from him. He gave me several 
pills, intending to salivate me. I threw his physic to the dogs, 
and by an application of tobacco-water effected a cure. Another 
man, one of the Windsor prisoners, who was tried under the 
name of James P. Williams, but whose real name was Nelson 
Recker, took the doctor's pills, was salivated, and afterwards be- 
came totally blind. He was then sent to the invalid hospital at 
New Norfolk, about twenty miles from Hobart Town, up the 
River Derwent, where he died eight or nine months afterwards. 
Good treatment would undoubtedly have saved him. He former- 
ly resided in Onondaga county. New York. 

About the 20th of May, William Reynolds, Jacob Paddock, 
Horace Cooley, and Michael Murray, having had three months 
trial of slavery, made an attempt to escape. They left in the 
dusk of the evening, hid themselves in the woods for a few days, 
and then took a boat and put out to sea, in the hope of falling 
in with an American whale-ship. In going ashore on an unin- 
habited island their boat was stove in pieces, and they were com- 
pelled to remain there about two weeks, subsisting on shell-fish. 
They all came near starving to death, and Murray was taken 
sick. He was apparently at the point of death, when they con- 
cluded to give themselves up to some constables who were search- 
ing for them. They were tried and sentenced to Port Arthur for 
two years. This latter place is a penal settlement, where offend- 
ers against the laws and regulations of the colony are sent for 
more severe punishment, and closer confinement. The suffer- 
ings of those sent to Port Arthur are represented as most appal- 
ing. It is considered a very wicked thing for a man to attempt 
to escape; and the Governor, in his speeches to prisoners, on 
their arrival, was careful to tell them how extremely naughty it 
would be for them to endeavor to avoid the punishment they so 
richly merited, by absconding ! 

The following is an extract from a very interesting work by 
Linus W. Miller, just published, entitled " Notes of an Exile, on 
Canada, England, and Van Dieman's Land." Mr. Miller is a 
talented young lawyer, and the author of the verses inserted on a 
previous page. I cheerfully commend his book to the attention 
of the readers of my humble narrative. The following incident 
is related by him so much better than I could do it, that I beg 
leave to quote »t :• - 

*' The party in general bore their misfortunes with manly for- 
titude. There were several aged men among us, who mostly set 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 107 

the younger an example worthy to be followed in the school of 
adversity. Elijah C. Woodman, of London, Upper Canada, and 
Chauncey Sheldon, of Michigan, were the eldest. I shall never 
forget a little circumstance which occurred, connected with the 
former. We had worked hard all day, in the cold rain, and, as 
usual, were locked into our cheerless huts after the day's toil, 
to sleep in our wet clothing until the morrow should again call 
us to the performance of our cruel tasks. Some sat upon the 
forms, some in their berths, while others had covered themselves 
with their thin blanket and rug, to court the warmth, sleep, and 
rest which they so much needed. All were silent. Drooping 
heads and sad countenances indicated that the thoughts of the 
melancholy party were of bitter wrongs, or perchance of distant 
home and friends. Occasionally a heavy sigh might be heard, 
and anon a slight groan from the sick, for there were always 
sick among us. Suddenly, Mr. Woodman sprang from his berth 
to the floor, and in a tone of voice that might have been heard 
a mile, struck up 'The Hunters of Kentucki/.' The effect was 
instantaneous. As if electrified, every man sprang to the floor; 
sick, blind, and halt, joined in the chorus; some danced, others 
shouted, and all shook off the gloomy horrors of Van Dieman's 
Land." 

Already five of the political prisoners at Van Dieman's Land 
had been consigned to the grave, and the sixth, sick and blind, 
was soon to follow them. Four others had been sent to Port 
Arthur, to endure sufferings far worse than death, as the penalty 
for endeavoring to recover their freedom ! The constitutions of 
others were breaking down, in consequence of excessive toil, 
miserable food, scanty clothing, and inadequate shelter. The 
tyranny and brutality of the overseers, and the impossibility of 
obtaining any redress of our grievances, by appealing to the su- 
perintendent, added to our bodily sufterings the tormenting re- 
flection that we were slaves ! Ay, slaves, in hopeless bondage, 
with the very meanest of God's creatures set over us to extort 
the last particle of strengh, and then to abuse us because we had 
no more ! O ! when I look back upon the horrid scenes we 
passed through, and the wretched life we led, my blood chills at 
the very thought, and I am astonished that we did not all perish 
in our captivity ! I am sure that none but strong hearts and 
iron constitutions could endure such an ordeal, without sinking 
under the weight of accumulated burdens ! 



108 



CHAPTER X. 

Lovely Banks — Rohhery in Bagdad Jail — Horrid Sufferings — 
A Scheme to obtain Liberty — Miller and Stewart sent to Port 
Arthur — Our Removal to Green Ponds — Atchison, the Negro 
Driver — Dishonest Superintendents — The Bridgewater Sta- 
tion — Dispersion of our Party — Hie Author and twenty-one 
others sent to Brown's River — Cruel Floggings — Criminality 
of eating a Sheep's Head — Captain Jones. 

Sometime about the middle of June, we were removed from 
the Sandy Bay Station to a place called Lovely Banks, about 
forty miles in the interior, on the road leading to Launceston. 
This removal from the seaboard was doubtless designed to pre- 
vent our escape. There were no inhabitants living within two 
miles of the Station, which was in a beautiful valley, surrounded 
by high hills. The march to Lovely Banks occupied two days, 
and we carried our bedding and one day's provisions on our 
backs. We stopped over night at Bagdad Jail, and twenty of us 
were locked up in a room with twenty-three convicts, who had 
just been tried and convicted of various crimes, and were then 
awaiting the execution of their several sentences. We piled our 
bundles in a heap, and Daniel Liscomb was charged with the 
duty of watching them, until he should be relieved. In about 
an hour I went to him, and found him sitting on one of the bun- 
dles, in a quiet sleep, and every other bundle had been removed. 
We found them in different parts of the room, cut open, and 
rifled of all the articles our " fellow-boarders " had a fancy for. 
By the assistance of some one outside, these articles had been 
passed out of the room, and we never saw them again. The in- 
veterate thieves even went so far as to blow out the light, that 
they might have an opportunity to steal the dough which we had 
mixed for the next day's batch of bread. When we had obtained 
another light, about half our dough had disappeared; the rascals 
had got it in their hats, on the top of their heads ! 

June, July, and August, are the winter months in Van Die- 
man's Land. The ground is seldom covered with snow for more 
than an hour at a time ; yet there is much disagreeable weather. 
It not unfrequently rains or snows all day, and the nights are 



ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HEUSTIS. 109 

exceedingly cold. During the three months we remained at 
Lovely Banks we suiFered almost every conceivable hardship. 
Notwithstanding the weather was wet and cold, our clothing was 
worn to tatters, and many poor fellows were entirely destitute of 
shoes, and blood marked their footsteps, as they travelled over the 
frozen ground ! Hiram Loop, for refusing to labor without shoes, 
was shut up in a loathsome cell for several days, and fed on bread 
and water ! Many were sick, some of whom were thrust into 
the cells for not performing the cruel tasks requifed by the over- 
seers. No matter how stormy the weather might be, we had to 
do our day's work. Finding it difficult to drive us as hard as 
they wished, our taskmasters began to threaten us with the cat- 
o'-nine-tails ; but we assured them we would all fight till death 
before that ignominious'punishment should be inflicted on any 
of our party, and it was not attempted. We had no fires to warm 
ourselves by, or to dry our wet garments. Wet and cold we 
went to bed, and in the morning I have repeatedly found my 
body and limbs so benumbed and stiff, in consequence of hard 
labor and exposure, that I could hardly raise myself up. And 
yet I enjoyed better health than many others. The horrors of 
suc\\ a life, mortal pen is inadequate to describe. 

We were constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to es- 
cape. About the 20th of August, we learned, by some convicts 
who had just come from Hobart Town, that several American 
whale-ships were in port. It was agreed that Linus W. Miller 
and Joseph Stewart should make a trip to town, and see if some 
arrangement could not be made with the captains to take us off. 
We had a scheme matured by which we hoped to bid adieu to 
Van Dieman's Land. On the evening of the 29th, having been 
provided with a stock of provisions saved out of our rations, they 
commenced their journey. Previous to leaving, they wrote a 
note to Major Ainsworth, the visiting magistrate to the Station, 
and left it where it would be found the next morning. In this 
note they complained of being " treated far worse than African 
slaves in any part of the world," and said they had been driven 
to take the bush, as the only chance of prolonging their lives. 
The design was to put the authorities on the wrong track in their 
pursuit. They travelled all night, and then made their bed for 
the day under cover of a thick cluster of the wattle-tree. The 
next night they resumed their journey, carefully avoiding the 
habitations of men, and making their way over hills and through 
valleys, where their progress at times was very much obstructed 
by underbrush and high grass. The second day they were dis- 



110 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

covered in the woods by a district constable^ Miller, by appeal- 
ing to his feelings as a father, a brother, a son, finally touched 
the constable's heart, and he let them go unmolested. On the 
evening of the 2d of September they arrived at Sandy Bay, where 
they had previously become acquainted with some men who had 
promised to render assistance in such an enterprise. The first 
man to whom they applied was terror-stricken at seeing them, 
and, instead of affording them assistance, went and notified sev- 
eral constables. All persons are forbidden by law to harbor or 
assist any prisoner in escaping from the Island, under a penalty 
of five hundred pounds, and the fear of being himself detected in 
harboring our friends, led the very man in whom they trusted to 
betray them. Thirty pieces of silver possess a wonderful charm 
in some cases. The prisoners fled, with constables at their heels. 
The pursuit was a hot one, but our friends escaped, and took 
refuge under a stone bridge, three miles below Sandy Bay, where 
they remained the following day, during which time more than 
thirty constables crossed the bridge in search of them. At night 
they commenced a retreat, with the intention of returning to 
Lovely Banks. On the 11th of September, they voluntarily sur- 
rendered to the authorities at Bagdad, where they were confined 
in prison a few days, and then were taken to Green Ponds for 
trial before Major Ainsworth. The charge was, " being- illegally 
absent twelve days," to which they pleaded guilty, and were im- 
mediately sentenced to Port Arthur for two years. 

Of their subsequent sufferings and trials, Mr. Miller gives a 
detailed account in his recently published work. During the 
first part of their stay at Port Arthur, almost every conceivable 
torture was inflicted upon them. After a few weeks, however, 
the Rev, J. A. Manton, chaplain of the Station, and a very worthy 
man, became acquainted with Miller, and finding him an intelli- 
gent and upright young man, appointed him clerk of the church 
and school-keeper. This situation he held until his sentence ex- 
pired, when he obtained the appointment of tutor in the fam- 
ily of General Lempriere, the commissariat officer of the Station, 
where he remained, in comparative comfort and happiness, until 
he entered the law office of Edward MacDowell, Esq., the first 
barrister of the Australian Colonies, and formerly Attorney- 
General of Van Dieman's Land. Having previously obtained his 
" ticket of leave," — a partial emancipation, which allows the 
prisoner, under certain restrictions, freedom to choose his em- 
ployment, and to receive the wages of his labor — Miller had a 
handsome salary, as clerk, while in Mr. MacDoweli's office. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. UKUSTIS. Ill 

Stewart, Miller's companion at Port Arthur, at the expiration 
of one year, obtained a comfortable situation in the family of an 
officer, where he gradually recovered from the effects of the hard 
treathient he had experienced. 

Their attempt to escape caused the rest of us to be very closely 
watched,. and we were dressed up in convict uniforms, or what 
are there called suits of" magpie," one half being black, and the 
other yellow, arranged so that the front of one leg was yellow and 
the other black. We had leather caps, and altogether a more 
striped-looking set of fellows was never seen. 

On the 13th of September, having been at Lovely Banks about 
three months, we were removed to Green Ponds Station, nine 
miles nearer Hobart Town. Here we remained nine months, 
and were kept at work on the road. The government was con- 
structing a great macadamized road between Hobart Town and 
Launceston, the two principal towns in Van Dieman's Land, and 
on opposite sides of the Island. It was on this road that we were 
employed most of the time during our two years' probation. 

We had to go three miles to our work in the morning, and re- 
turn at night, often travelling a mile after the stars were shining. 
On reaching the Station, we had a pint of skilly, and then laid our- 
selves down on miserable pallets of straw, to be aroused by 
the bell as soon as the grey morning dawned. If not on hand, 
at roll-call, the absentee would be doomed to seven or fourteen 
days' solitary confinement, in a loathsome cell, full of vermin, 
where he was fed on bread and water. Men were often sen- 
tenced, for thirty days at a time, in these detestable dungeons. 

The superintendent, a Scotchman, who went by the name of 
Bobby Nutman, had the reputation of being the severest task- 
master in Van Dieman's Land, and that is saying a great deal. 
When he was superintendent at Long Meadows, the number of 
men flogged every morning was said to average twenty-Jive. On 
one occasion, thirty-seven hundred lashes were served out to his 
gang before breakfast, the men being tied to a cart to receive 
them. 

We got along with Bobby, however, as well as we did with 
others. He worked us hard, and so did all of them. He made 
an overseer of another Scotchman, named Atchison, who had 
been a negro-driver in the West Indies, and who boasted that he 
had flosged all the men and women in his gang, being more than 
seventy, at one time, for a trivial offence, and that among them 
was a young female slave, with whom he was in the habit of im- 
proper intercourse, and by whom he had a child that he left in 



1 12 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

slavery ! Under such an overseer, it could only be expected that 
we should meet with hard usage. 

In the course of two or three months, Nutman left for Scot- 
land, and his place was supplied by one John Pooke, a new hand 
at the business. As he was inexperienced, he left the direction 
of matters, in a great measure, to Atchison, who was principal 
overseer, and vi^ho exercised his authority with the utmost rigor 
and severity. 

With a view of promoting his own advancement, he endeavored 
to excite the men to revolt and refuse to work, taking good care 
to keep the plan from a few of us, who knew his character, 
and would have detected his purpose at once. After he had en- 
listed a few men in his project, he went to O. W. Smith, who 
had been promoted to the place of sub-overseer, and said, " Now 
is the time for us to raise ourselves; I have talked with the men, 
and they have agreed to revolt; let us write to Captain Spode, 
divulging the plan, and we shall get promoted for it." Smith in- 
dignantly spurned the nefarious proposition, and immediately 
cautioned the men against having any thing to do with the plot. 
Atchison was ever afterwards a relentless enemy to Smith, and 
also to others who had used their influence to defeat his project. 
I had been made a sub-overseer, but as I would not drive the 
men as hard as they had previously been driven, my term of ser- 
vice in that capacity was very short. I was " broke," and set to 
work again on the carts. 

Pooke, the superintendent, was detected in selling flour that 
belonged to government, and pocketing the money. For this he 
was dismissed from office, and a Captain Wright appointed in 
his place. He very soon began to appropriate a considerable 
part of our rations to his own use, of which we complained to 
the magistrate, and, strange to say, our complaint was listened 
to, and the purloiner of our "daily bread" received his walking- 
ticket. During his administration, he sent Solomon Reynolds 
and Thomas Baker out into the woods to cut timber, and furnished 
them with a saw and other implements to work with. This was 
contrary to the government regulations. After the timber was 
cut, Wright took it for government use, charging the usual price, 
and transferring the money to his own pocket. Reynolds and 
Baker sold the tools they had used, and told Wright they had 
been stolen. The superintendent disbelieved the story, but 
dared not say anything to the magistrate about the aft'air, as it 
would lead to the exposure of his own peculation. He found the 
Yankees were a little too shrewd for his purposes. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 113 

While we were at the Green Ponds Station, and when we had 
been fourteen months in the colony, the Governor came to see 
us for the third time, and told us that he had received the in- 
structions from Lord John Russell, in relation to our treatment, 
which he had written for immediately after our arrival. In an- 
swer to the Governor's inquiry, whether he should grant us 
" tickets of leave " at the expiration of two years. Her Majesty's 
Secretary had authorized him to allow us whatever indulgence 
he saw proper. The Governor then assured us that, if our con- 
duct remained good, he should, at the end of two years, give us 
tickets, conferring the privilege of free labor in every part of the 
Island except the District of Hobart Town. 

On the 14th day of May, we left Green Ponds for Bridgewater, 
twelve miles from Hobart Town. Here, for the first time, we 
were herded with English convicts. There were about 300 of 
these criminals at this Station. They were the vilest of the vile, 
and it was only by the strictest watch that we prevented them 
from stealing our rations. The moment a man's back was 
turned, " grab " was the game. We were employed in building 
a bridge across the River Derwent, for which we had to quarry 
and cart the stone. A nephew of Sir George Arthur, named 
Mason, officiated as a magistrate at this Station. He was called 
about the meanest man there was in Van Dieman's Land ; but, 
among so many mean characters, it would be difficult to decide 
which was entitled to the highest place on the scroll of infamy. 
Mason found it difficult to subdue certain independent traits of 
character, which Yankees are in the habit of manifesting when 
tyrants undertake to domineer over them, and he wrote to the 
government at Hobart Town, that we had the old spirit in us yet, 
and he thought we had better be separated, and sent to dilFerent 
parts of the Island, as it was dangerous to keep so many of us 
together. In reply to this intimation, orders were received to 
disperse us in various directions. 

On the 28th of May, fifteen days after our arrival at Bridge- 
water, eight of our men were taken off, we knew not where, but 
afterwards ascertained that they went to Jerusalem, in the inte- 
rior. On their journey they passed through Jericho and crossed 
the River Jordan, and at Jerusalem they " fell among thieves." 
There were no Samaritans in that region, and the Levites, as of 
old, ** passed by on the other side." 

On the next day the rest of us were divided into six lots, and 
sent to as many different Stations, remote from each other, and 
each party was kept ignorant of the destination of the others. 



114 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

The company that I was in was a large one, numbering twenty- 
two, and we were taken to Brown's River Station, nine miles' 
south of Hobart Town. Here we found a chain-gang. I had 
seen several of these gangs before, but this was the first time I 
had been located with one. 

The conveniences for flogging, at this Station, were in a high 
state of perfection. A portion of the time, these floggings took 
place as often as five mornings in a week, and the number of 
culprits thus doomed to ignominious punisliment, varied from one 
to ten. All hands were called together to witness these inhu- 
man whippings. We were formed into a hollow square, one 
side of which was a guard of soldiers. The superintendent, the 
overseers, the physician, the flagellator, and the men to be 
scourged, were stationed in the centre of the square. The su- 
perintendent having read the warrant of the magistrate, ordering 
the punishment, and prescribing the number of lashes to be in- 
flicted, the oflfender was then tied to a triangle, with his bare 
back exposed, and the flagellator pulled ofl" his own coat, that he 
might have a free use of his brawny arm, and be enabled to strike 
a heavy blow. The doctor stood by, to decide whether the men 
could endure their sentence ; if he thought they could not live 
through it, he ordered the remaining lashes to be reserved until 
such time as the man would be able to bear them. The flagel- 
lator then commenced his task, and at every stroke of the cat-'o- 
nine tails, a scream would come from the suflferer, and his body 
would writhe in agony. After a few lashes had been inflicted, 
the blood would begin to run, and, before the close, the flesh on 
the poor man's back would be lacerated dreadfully. The marks 
of these floggings almost invariably endure as long as life lasts. 
Some of the men, who had iron nerves, would receive an ordi- 
nary sentence without much wincing, even though their backs 
were badly mutilated ; they had a notion that it was a mark of 
unmanly weakness to scream, but their countenances showed 
that it was difiicult to refrain from it themselves. 

The lowest punishment is three dozen lashes, which is inflict- 
ed for the most trivial offences. Seventy-five lashes is a common 
sentence; and the highest punishment which a single magistrate 
can order is one hundred lashes. If the oflTence is considered 
heinous, the culprit is tried by two magistrates, who can order 
any punishment they see fit. They occasionally go as high as 
six hundred lashes. Men are sometimes flogged to death ; but I 
never witnessed the infliction of more than one hundred lashes, 
and that is enough to shock every feeling of humanity. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 115 

None of the Americans were flogged ; we had solemnly re- 
solved never to submit to it. Instant death, in our minds, was 
far preferable to such tortures. It was probably deemed unwise 
to attempt it, and we escaped the most odious of all punishments. 
Solitary confinement, on bread and water, for many days at a 
time, was awarded to several of our party ; but not even this was 
ever administered to me. 

I became acquainted with a man who told me that he was 
once sentenced to receive 300 lashes, for attempting to run away. 
After he had taken 200, the doctor — who had occasionally felt 
of his pulse, to determine how far life would hold out — said he 
could not bear the other hundred then. With his back gashed 
and bleeding, he was thrust into a cell, where he remained two 
or three days, and was then taken out to receive the other hun- 
dred. He begged that the doctor v/ould defer the punishment a 
few days, till his back was better, alleging that maggots had got 
into it. " Yes, I see there a few," said the doctor, as he hastily 
examined the wounds, "but it will only stir them up; goon, 
flagellator." 

On some Stations it had been customary for the magistrate to 
ride out to the place where the convicts were at work, every 
morning, for the purpose of hearing such complaints as the over- 
seer had to make, and awarding the punishments. Such inci- 
dents as the following were not of unfrequent occurrence, as I 
was assured on good authority. The magistrate would sit on his 
horse and order the men mustered before him. He would then 
ask the overseer, " How many have you for trial ?" The answer 
would be a call on Tom, Dick, and Harry, to step forward, and 
the number thus called out of the line would perhaps be twenty. 
They were sure to be punished, if the overseer preferred any 
charge against them, however unfounded or trivial it might be, 
and it was useless to attempt to make any defence. Sometimes 
the magistrate would remark, " You haven't as many as usual." 
The overseer, to make up the complement, would glance along 
the line in quest of more victims. At length his eye would rest 
on one, and the potent call, " Come out here, Sam !" would in- 
sure the unfortunate wight an introduction to the cat-'o-nine-tails. 

Sam would venture to remonstrate, saying that he had been 
guilty of no misconduct, and had done his task the day before. 

"Never mind," replied the overseer, "you won't do it to- 
morrow ; three dozen will square it." 

The Brown's River Station was a new one, and we assisted in 
erecting the buildings. After cutting the timber in the woods, 



116 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HEUSTIS. 

it was borne on our shoulders to the Station, a distance little less 
than a mile; and, in carrying some of the large logs, as many as 
100 men would be required on a single stick. 

Our party were quite unwilling to associate with criminals 
from the lowest sinks of iniquity in England, and we asked per- 
mission of the magistrate and superintendent to build ourselves 
a separate hut, which we would do in the Saturday afternoons 
allotted us to do our washing. The request was granted, and 
we worked zealously in cutting and carrying the timber, and in 
building the hut. At last it was completed, and we were con- 
gratulating each other on the prospect of being speedily separated 
from our disagreeable companions, when a company of soldiers 
came down from Hobart Town, and the magistrate gave them 
our hut for their barracks, without saying a word to us about it. 
Thus much we got for our extra toils. 

In like manner, on Saturday afternoon, we built a kitchen for 
a sub-superintendent, for which he voluntarily gave each man a 
sheep's head, which we boiled for our Sunday dinner, and es- 
teemed it a great luxury ! The principal superintendent, when 
he heard of our feast, entered a complaint to Captain Jones, the 
visiting magistrate, who instantly dismissed the sub-superin- 
tendent, and said he had a good mind to sentence us to an addi- 
tional year's probation on the road, for receiving the present ! 

This Captain Jones was a hard-hearted and tyrannical man. 
As we were bathing in the river, one Sunday morning, we caught 
a few crayfish, a species of lobster, which we cooked for dinner. 
Jones heard of it, and told us if we ever did it again he would 
punish us severely. We had every reason to believe that he 
would execute his threats, for we witnessed a specimen of his 
conduct, on one occasion, which assured us that he would not 
hesitate in the commission of any act of barbarity. A working 
ox, which had broken its leg, was knocked in the head by the 
teamster, its hide taken off, and the carcass left near the place 
where the prisoners were at work. About forty of the English 
convicts cut off pieces of meat from this ox, which they roasted 
over a fire where their dinner was cooking. For this offence, 
all of them were sentenced to an additional term of probation, 
varying from one to two years, and some were sent to Port Ar- 
thur to work out this sentence. 

Only two or three days before we were to receive our tickets, 
this infamous magistrate ordered all the hair to be cut off our 
heads as close as possible, notwithstanding the superintendent 
remonstrated against it. 



117 



CHAPTER XI. 

Our partial Emancipation — Journey into the Interior — The 
Good Woman's Inn — Lodgings by the Wayside — 3Iona 
Vale — Mr. Kermode's Farm — Agreement to cultivate it 07i 
Shares — Death and Burial of Alson Otoen, at Rothhury — 
Celebration of the Fourth of July — A successful Experiment 
in cradling Wlieat. 

On the 16th day of February, 1842, our two years' probation 
having expired, and notice having been given in the government 
gazette that we were to be allowed " tickets of leave," we went 
up to Hobart Town to obtain our passes. Instead of giving us 
the liberty of the whole Island, as the Governor had promised, 
our tickets restricted us to one district, each man being allowed 
to choose one out of six of the interior districts. 

After a prisoner gets a *' ticket of leave," he is allowed to work 
for himself, and has the proceeds of his labor. He is still, how- 
ever, kept under very strict regulations. He is not permitted to 
go even from one house to another, or into the woods, without a 
pass, signed by his employer, or by a magistrate. If he should 
go without a pass, or, having one, should go to any other place 
than the one named, he is liable to be sent back again to work 
on the government road, a year or more. 

The general practice, in regard to granting these tickets, is as 
follows : Those sentenced for life have to work eight years, with 
good behavior, before they are entitled to one ; those sentenced 
for fourteen years, must work six ; and others in like proportion. 
This rule is very frequently violated, however, when the govern- 
ment desire to keep prisoners in their service. The way it is 
done is to get up some fictitious charge of bad conduct, hire a 
few perjured villains to swear that it is true, and then sentence 
the victim to an additional term of probation. Such is the jus- 
tice found in Van Dieman's Land. 

The cause of Canadian liberty had many friends in England, 
including several influential men, members of Parliament, and 
eminent philanthropists, whose sympathies were strong in our 
behalf. Their efforts, in conjunction with the appeals of our 



118 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

friends on this side of the Atlantic, undoubtedly saved us from 
years of slavery. The wife of Benjamin Wait, one of the party 
taken at the Short Hills, crossed the Atlantic and spent several 
months in England, in earnest endeavors to procure the pardon 
of her husband and his associates. Doubtless we are much in- 
debted to her for our partial emancipation ; and the story of her 
devoted and heroic services, embalmed in all our hearts, shall 
be handed down to other generations, as a bright example of con- 
jugal fidelity and active philanthropy, worthy of an immortality 
of honor. She is doubtless rejoicing among the angels in heaven. 

When a prisoner has obtained a " ticket of leave," his first 
business is to seek employment. This, in most cases, is a dis- 
couraging task. At best, he is barely able to earn a living. The 
best of English laborers could be hired for twenty dollars a year! 
The Yankees would not work for less than an English shilling a 
day, or about seventy-five dollars a year. Even these low wages 
were very much reduced before we left the colony. Many em- 
ployers keep tiieir laborers so meanly, that they expend a consid- 
erable part of their wages in buying additional food, and the 
remainder would scarcely suffice to procure very indifferent 
clothing. The holder of a ticket is not absolved from the liability 
of again being pressed into the government service, whenever he 
is wanted. Notwithstanding all these things, a ticket is an ob- 
ject of earnest desire, as affording the means of escape from 
the tyranny of the government overseers. 

Having obtained our tickets, we went to the Tench in quest 
of the clothing which had been taken from us two years before. 
We found a small part of it, covered up with casks and other 
rubbish, which it took us half a day to remove, and then we dis- 
covered the rats had ruined what two-legged thieves had left. 
The clothes we had on had been worn six months, and they were 
little better than their weight in rags. We were to travel one 
hundred miles into the country, destitute of money, friends, or 
credit, but with joyous hearts, in view of our emancipation. 

No provisions having been furnished us, I went to Mr. Gunn, 
and told him we should need food on our journey, and had no 
money to buy it with. He said we were off" the hands of govern- 
ment, and they had nothing more to do in finding us provisions ; 
but, in conclusion, he told me he would furnish us some bread 
and meat, on his own responsibility. 

Eacii man took his bread and meat under his arm, and we all 
marched off, ;is independent as hogs on the ice. We travelled 
about four miles that day, l)€fore night set in, when we halted 



CAPTAIN DAiNIEL D. HEUSTIS. 119 

to build a fire by the wayside, where we intended to camp out on 
the ground. While we were making these preparations for the 
night, a landlord, whose house was not far distant, invited us to 
go and sleep in his bar-room, where there was a fire. He also 
loaned us a frying-pan, to cook our meat. We lodged on the 
bare floor, and thought ourselves quite lucky in getting even 
such accommodations. 

Early the next morning we resumed our journey, and at night 
we arrived at a public house, called the '* Good Woman's Inn," 
and known throughout the country as " Mother Barnes'." This 
house was near the Green Ponds Station, and Mrs. Barnes had 
been acquainted with several of our party. She gave us a sup- 
per and comfortable lodgings, and in the morning we left very 
early, after thanking the good woman most heartily for her kind 
hospitality. 

On account of sore feet, and other infirmities, some of the 
party began to lag, and we became divided into small flocks, as 
we pursued our journey. At Green Ponds, some of the men di- 
verged to the left, and went to Both well, distant about twenty 
miles, where they obtained employment. The rest of us kept on 
the main road toward Launceston. On the third night, six or 
seven of us arrived at Lemon Springs, where a man named Page 
kept a hotel. We asked permission to sleep in his barn, which 
he refused. We finally camped down by the side of the road, 
on the bare ground, where the little twinkling stars of heaven 
kept watch over us, and the gentle night breeze fanned our 
cheeks. The next morning we again resumed our march, and 
arrived at the town of Oatland, in Oatland District, before we 
breakfasted. Here we learned that William Kermode and Son, 
wealthy farmers, on the Macquarie River, eighteen miles dis- 
tant, wanted to hire us. Mr. Kermode was one of the Governor's 
Council, and had heard favorable reports concerning us, which 
made him desirous of securing our services. The name of his 
estate was Mona Vale, and it was situated partly in the Oatland 
District and partly in the Campbelltown District, so that those 
who had tickets for either of these districts could work in both, 
on his farm. W^e went direct to Mona Vale, where we found 
four or Wve of our comrades, who had been working out their 
probation at a Station near by, and who, after receiving their 
tickets, had been employed by Kermode and Son, at a shilling a 
day. Our friends procured us a supper, and vve had a good 
night's rest on the straw which they had been threshing, and 
that was a bed of down to us. 



120 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

The next morning Mr. Kermode proposed to let us have a 
large tract of land, called the Blackman farm, to cultivate upon 
shares. After exploring the land, twenty-eight of us engaged to 
till it, the agreement being in writing. Mr. Kermode furnished 
us with cheap clothing, beds, provisions, &/C., at prices agreed 
upon, for which he was to take his pay in grain, at the market 
price, when the crops had been secured. There was a house on 
the farm, in which we lived in comparative comfort. We sowed 
between four and five hundred acres of wheat and oats, from 
which good crops were obtained. To do the ploughing we had 
sixteen yoke of oxen, and the harrowing was done with horses. 

At Rothbury, on the River Isis, Orin W. Smith, and three or 
four others, had taken a job of " grubbing trees," that is, digging 
them up by the roots, for the purpose of clearing the land, on the 
estate of Mr. Sutherland. Rothbury is about twenty-five miles 
from Mona Vale. Before it was time to plough, four or five of 
our party went up to assist Smith, and he in turn was to assist us. 

On the morning of the 24th of March, Alson Owen went into 
an epileptic fit, and lived only thirty hours after it, during which 
time he had forty-five fits. We immediately sent for a doctor, 
who came and bled him, and gave directions in regard to his 
treatment. We did every thing in our power to relieve the suf- 
ferer, but all in vain. When he was in the fits, his whole sys- 
tem was shaken by the most violent convulsions. During the in- 
tervals, he lay in a stupid state of unconsciousness. I sat on the 
bed and held him in my arms all night. After his death, Hiram 
Sharp and myself went to Mona Vale, on foot, to get a coffin. 
Mr. Kermode gave us the stuflT, and Solomon Reynolds and Mo- 
ses A. Dutcher made the coffin. Mr. Kermode then sent a man 
with a horse and wagon, to carry us back. 

Mrs. Sutherland gave us linen to lay out the body. On the 
next Sunday we followed the remains of our friend to the grave. 
There was no clergyman in the vicinity, and the Episcopal burial- 
service was read by one of the neighbors, who usually officiated 
on such occasions. Mr. Sutherland's son, and a schoolmate who 
was making him a visit, put on mourning, and walked in the fu- 
neral procession. The body was laid in the ground, by the side 
of Mrs. Sutherland's child and sister, there to sleep until the final 
resurrection. Though there was no parade or ostentation, I 
never attended a funeral where greater solemnity or more heart- 
felt sorrow seemed to prevail. Our departed friend — we might 
almost call him our brother — was endeared to us by many noble 
traits of character, which had rendered him a favorite companion 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 121 

in all our trials and sufferings. To part with him, in this sad 
manner, was painful in the extreme. His age was twenty-seven 
years. 

After we had finished sowing the grain, we concluded that 
a much smaller number of men would be adequate to take care 
of the farm, and do the harvesting. With Mr. Kermode's con- 
sent, about half our party left, to seek employment elsewhere. 
Previous to leaving, however, the anniversary of our national/ in- 
dependence arrived, and we honored the day by such a celebra- 
tion as our limited means would allow. Our thoughts were of 
home, our dear native land, where liberty hath her dwelling- 
place, and where British tyrants are not allowed to pollute the 
soil with their odious system of government. 

One of our number, acting under that strong feeling of inde- 
pendence which the associations of the day are so well calculated 
to inspire in the bosom of every American, went to Ross, three 
miles distant, without a pass. He was arrested by a constable, 
and taken before a magistrate, charged with being intoxicated. 
The magistrate, whose name was Tollis, had travelled some in 
the United States, and knew that the Fourth of July was our great 
national holyday. When he found an American arraigned be- 
fore him for getting somewhat high on that day, he remarked, 
"If every one of those men had been found so drunk that they 
couldn't walk, on the Fourth of July, I would not punish one of 
them;" and then dismissed our friend, without so much as rep- 
rimanding him for his improper conduct. 

On the 5th of July, I went to Campbelltown, in quest of em- 
ployment. The first business I engaged in was making winnow- 
ing machines. Some of my comrades learned the trade from me, 
and, being more expert workmen, became such powerful rivals 
that I was compelled to abandon my new occupation. 

I next turned my attention to getting out shingles. Three of 
us took a job that lasted till January. During that time, we 
were robbed of bedding, clothing, and provisions, to the amount 
of fifty or sixty dollars, by the bush-rangers. As we had to learn 
the trade to begin with, we simply made a living by the job. 

In January, 1843, Elon Fellows proposed to go out and take a 
job of cradling wheat. I told him I had never swung a cradle 
in my life. He said, neither had he, but, if I would go, he would 
make a couple of cradles. I agreed to do so. Fellows was a 
regular Yankee, who could make any thing, from a German flute 
down to a penny whistle, and make it well, too. There were no 
cradles in the country, all the grain being cut with sickles. The 
6 



122 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HLUSTIS. 

cradles being completed, v.e triivelled twelve miles, and then 
called on Mr. Benton, whose estate is on the vSouth Esk River, 
and asked him if he wanted his grain cradled. 

** Are you cradlers?" 

**Yes; cradlers in our own country." 

" Well, I should like to try the experiment; if it works well, I 
will in future have all my grain cradled. I will give you ten 
shillings an acre and board you, which is the same I give reap- 
ers ; and if you do it satisfactorily, I will give you a pound (five 
dollars) extra." 

We told Mr. Benton we were experienced cradlers, because 
an Englishman always thinks a man must needs be a bungler, 
unless he has served an apprenticeship of seven years at his 
business, let it be ever so simple. 

Mr. Benton had between two and three hundred acres of 
grain, and he and several others w^ent down to see us commence. 
Unaccustomed as we were to the work, the presence of so many 
spectators — including our employer, whose good opinion we were 
anxious to secure, at the outset — was somewhat embarrassing. 
When w^e first struck in, as a matter of course, our skill was not 
exhibited to much advantage. I at once complained of the 
cradles, and insisted that the fingers were not right, and that we 
must go and alter them. Off we went, and took good care not 
to go back until Benton and his friends had left the field. We 
then began anew, and in a very short time got "the hang" of 
the cradles, and could lay the grain as handsomely as the very 
best of cradlers. Mr. Benton was so well satisfied with the 
manner in v.hich we performed the work, that he very cheerfully 
paid us the extra pound. 

The reapers threatened vengeance against us and our cradles. 
We had to lock up our " labor-saving machines" every night, 
to keep them cmt of the hands of those who would have been 
glad to destroy them. Before I left the Island, the price of 
cradling was down to three shillings an acre, not one third as 
much as Mr. Benton paid us. By this job of cradling we earned 
{$130, which was the first and only money we accumulated in 
the colony, and we expended nearly the whole of it in the pur- 
chase of clothes, of which we were in very great need. 



123 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Author visited by his Brother — Hunting Bush-Rangers — 
Dresser and Wright pardoned — The new Governor — His 
Opinion of the Legality of our Imprisonment — A Petition for 
our Pardon — Another unsuccessful Attempt to Abscond — 
Trial before a Magistrate — Cheating the Laborer of his 
Wages — The Pardon — Captain Skinner, of the Phoenix. 

Toward the latter part of February, my brother, Charles 
P. Heustis, arrived at Hobart Town, in the whale-ship William 
Hamilton, of New Bedford, then on her passage to the North- 
west Coast. Captain John Cole, the commander of the ship, 
had been a townsman and schoolmate of mine. My brother 
came up to Campbelltown to see me, and the captain sent a let- 
ter, in which he referred to our school-boy days, and also sent 
word that if I were aboard his ship, he would put me where the 
constables of Van Dieman's Land would never find me. My 
brother stopped with me two nights, and through him I heard 
from my other friends in America. This, and one letter, which 
the government allowed me to see after they had broken it open, 
was all the intelligence I received from my friends, during the 
five years I was kept on the Island. Other letters were sent, 
but they never reached me. 

I knew it to be worse than useless for me to attempt to escape 
with Captain Cole, as I was very closely watched. Indeed, as 
soon as it was known, at Hobart Town, that I had a brother on 
board the William Hamilton, a messenger was despatched to 
Campbelltown, to admonish the police officers to keep an eye on 
me. I sent a letter by my brother, which he forwarded by the 
first vessel he fell in with bound to the United States, and it was 
received by the person to whom it was addressed. I wrote sev- 
eral letters home, but only one of them, beside the one just al- 
luded to, were received here. 

After the job of cradling was finished. Fellows, Whiting, and 
myself, went to getting out shingles again. We made a contract 
with a man to furnish him with shingles by the thousand. The 
timber was cut on government land, for which we had to pay 
twenty-five cents a week for each man employed. We also got 



124 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

out felloes, for wheels, in which we successfully competed with 
the sawyers, and thus excited their enmity. We took out a 
license to cut timber for ten weeks, and paid in advance. Four 
weeks before the expiration of the time, the government required 
our services in hunting bush-rangers, and we were obliged to 
abandon our work, besides being defrauded of the money we had 
paid in advance. 

Bush-rangers are convicts who have escaped into the forests 
and mountains, where they live by plunder and robbery, and be- 
come a terror to the whole Island. They are driven to this mode 
of life by the severity of their treatment. High-spirited and res- 
olute men, as they generally are, they prefer even death itself to 
the odious tyranny of the government overseers. They flee into 
the unsettled parts of the country, and get arms and ammunition 
from the shepherds who are watching their flocks in those re- 
gions. They generally go in couples, though sometimes ten or 
twelve are together. The caves of the mountains afford them 
hiding-places, but they do not long remain in the same locality. 
In their wanderings, they embrace every opportunity to plunder 
those who come within their reach, and commit murder when- 
ever the success of their schemes cannot otherwise be secured. 

At the time I am speaking of, two of these bush-rangers, 
named Jeffs and Conway, had committed several depredations 
on property in the vicinity of Campbelltown, and had also done 
violence to the persons of some of the inhabitants. About three 
hundred men, including forty of the Americans, were armed and 
sent out from the Campbelltown District, in search of these fa- 
mous bush-rangers. We were divided off^ into parties of six or 
seven, each man armed with a musket and five rounds of ammu- 
nition, which was all the government dared to allow us, lest we 
should use the means thus placed in our hands to regain our own 
liberty. Each party was headed by a constable, whose orders 
were in all cases to be obeyed. All of us were sworn as special 
constables, and the time of our service was entirely at the 
pleasure of the government. 

We were away from home, at the time we were called into 
this service, and had no opportunity to provide ourselves with a 
change of linen. The party that I went with were out seventy- 
three days, during which time I never had my clothes or boots 
off". We slept in the woods, in robes made of opossum skins. 
After we came in, we were again sent out, and remained fifteen 
days. Constantly scouring the woods, in all directions, we occa- 
sionally got on the track of the bush-rangers, but it never hap- 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 1^ 

pened to be ray good or bad luck to meet them. They were 
eventually taken by a party in which were Aaron Dresser and 
Stephen S. Wright, two of the Prescott prisoners. The reward 
for this service was a free pardon, $166,66 in money, and a 
passage to England, for every man of the party. It was a rainy 
day on which the capture took place, and the powder of the 
bush-rangers being wet, they were unable to make any resist- 
ance ; had it been otherwise, a bloody fight must have ensued. 
They were hung, shortly afterwards* 

On the 3d of July, we were called out again. The mail had 
been robbed, on the Launceston road, by three desperate bush- 
rangers, named Cash, Cavanagh, and Jones. I was out this 
time about seven weeks. Cavanagh was taken by a party of 
constables, at a shepherd's hut, but he would give no information 
of the others. 

Cash was taken in the following November, at Hobart Town, 
where he had gone to see his wife. He killed a constable who 
attempted to arrest* him, after he had been discovered. Jones 
was captured in March, near Bridgewater, fifteen or sixteen miles 
from Hobart Town. He had both of his eyes shot out in the en- 
counter with his captors. 

Cash and Cavanagh were tried and sentenced to Norfolk 
Island for life. Jones was executed. During his confinement, he 
lost all the flesh on his bones, and was nothing but a blind skeleton 
when they hung him. Cash was the leader of the gang, and to 
his other crimes had added that of murder. Why his life was 
spared it is difficult to conceive, unless it was thought that his 
sentence was worse than death ; an opinion which those who 
have experienced the '* tender mercies " of Van Dieman's Land 
would not consider very irrational. 

I think it was in August that Sir John Eardley Eardley Wil- 
mot arrived at Hobart Town, to take the place of Sir John 
Franklin, as Governor of Van Dieman's Land. 

In November, he attended the cattle-fair at Campbelltown, 
and Mr. Kermode, at our request, spoke to the new Governor in 
our behalf, urging our pardon. In reply to Mr. Kermode's 
earnest appeal, the Governor said, if he had been in Sir John 
Franklin's place, when we arrived, he should not have received 
us, as the documents, on the authority of which Captain Wood 
had brought us there, conferred no power on the Governor to de- 
tain us on the Island. He intimated that the ** old granny" did 
not know his duty, or he would have discharged us as soon as we 
landed. This opinion was fully sustained by Mr. MacDowall, the 



126 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

ablest lawyer on the Island, who examined the papers that ac- 
companied us, and told L. W. Miller that there was not a scrap 
of authority for detaining us. Such being the admitted state of 
the case, it would seem to have been Governor Wihnot's duty to 
let the captives go free. If there was originally no legal precept 
for holding us in bondage, the fact that we had been wrongfully 
and illegally deprived of our liberty for several years could cer- 
tainly confer no power to continue the wrong. However, as 
matters then stood, he said he could do nothing but use his in- 
fluence with the home government, which he would cheerfully 
do. He wished the settlers and magistrates who had known us 
would get up a petition, and, after signing it themselves, forward 
it to him, and he would endorse it, and then transmit it to Eng- 
land. He thought we should get a favorable answer in nine or 
ten months. 

In accordance with the suggestion of the Governor, a petition 
was drawn up, and signed by about fifty of the most respectable 
and influential men in the colony. The petition and signatures 
covered several sheets of paper, as each man who signed it made 
a separate statement of what he knew respecting us, before he 
added his name. It was forwarded on the 28th of March, 1844. 

We had not the fullest confidence in the success of this eflbrt 
to procure our release, and continued to watch for opportunities 
to escape. Just about the time the petition was forwarded, we 
heard that there were several whale-ships at Hobart Town, and 
James Pierce and myself obtained passes to go there, with the 
view of making an arrangement with the captains to take twenty 
of us off". We had consultations with the officers of the ships, 
and they all manifested a readiness to help us escape from 
slavery. It is deemed prudent not to divulge the names of these 
generous-hearted men, as they may hereafter have occasion to 
visit the Island. I had two offers to go on board of ships, with a 
good prospect of escaping. My companion, Pierce, had the 
same offers made to him. We declined them, because we were 
anxious to get our comrades away also, and we knew that our 
escape would only cause them to be treated with increased se- 
verity, and their movements more strictly watched. 

We finally made an arrangement with a captain to take twenty 
of us away. He was to sail along the coast, round the Island, 
nearly 200 miles, to a place called Wabs' Boat Harbor, on the 
east side of Van Dieman's Land, and thirty miles from any set- 
tlement. He was to be at this point on a certain day, in the af- 
ternoon. Several months previous, Garret Hicks and Riley 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 127 

Whitney had taken a farm, about five miles from the coast, for 
the purpose of maturing this plan of escape. By getting passes, 
we could go and see them ; and there was no difficulty in bribing 
a clerk with a dollar, and getting a pass, whenever we wanted 
one. There were very few officers, from the Governor down- 
wards, who could not be bribed, if the poor prisoner had the 
means. It is called taking " tip," and is so common that it ex- 
cites no astonishment, even when those who are considered 
respectable are the transgressors. The courts are full of it, and 
there is no tribunal where its influence is not felt. 

Some of our comrades were in Campbelltown, sixty miles from 
the point on the coast where we expected to embark ; some in 
Hobart Town, more than one hundred and fifty miles ; some in 
Oatland District, ninety miles; and some in Swanport, thirty 
miles. We had to notify them, and then, by marches that would 
appear altogether incredible, were I to give the particulars, we 
made our way to the coast. Hicks and Whitney had a fine lot 
of potatoes, which they had cultivated expressly for the adven- 
ture in which we had engaged. They were to aflTord us subsist- 
ence on board the ship. We dug and carried on our backs, a 
distance of five miles, more than two tons of them. 

The whale-ship made its appearance, at the point designated, 
early on the morning of the day agreed upon. The captain 
came ashore with two boats. There were only three of our men 
there, the other seventeen being at the hut, five miles distant, 
where it was deemed more prudent to remain until the time 
stipulated for the ship to arrive, which was in the afternoon. 
The captain said he would lay off and on till four o'clock, at 
which time all the men were to be on the spot. How our hearts 
beat in view of speedy deliverance from captivity ! In imagina- 
tion we were already grasping the hands of our friends, in our 
dear native land ! The perils of the sea were not thought of, in 
those moments of joyful anticipation. We felt willing to endure 
any hardship to recover our freedom. 

The captain returned to his ship, and put out to sea. He had 
not been gone more than an hour, when an armed vessel, in the 
government service, made its appearance off the coast, and re- 
mained in that quarter several days. Thus were our hopes again 
blasted ! The whale-ship occasionally hove in sight, for many 
days, but the presence of the armed vessel prevented us from 
communicating with the noble-hearted captain, to whom we owe 
many thanks for the persevering though fruitless efforts he made 
to get us on board his ship. 



128 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

We remained on the coast ten days, and employed most of the 
time in fishing and hunting. After we had been there about 
eight days, three constables, from Swanport, visited us, and en- 
deavored to elicit some information as to our designs. We told 
them we were merely hunting and fishing, and they discovered 
nothing to contradict our statement. Two days after the consta- 
bles arrived, we were summoned to appear before the police 
magistrate, at Swanport, charged with trying to abscond. The 
witnesses against us told different and very contradictory stories. 
Some said the vessel which had been seen off the coast, under 
very suspicious circumstances, was a ship ; others said she was 
a bark ; and others still that she was a brig. Different witnesses 
testified that she carried English, French, and American colors. 
The magistrate tried to have us make a statement to send to the 
Governor, but we had seen too much of that kind of management, 
and preferred to let the government furnish its own testimony. 
All we knew about it, was the simple fact that we were hunting 
and fishing. After exhausting all his cunning, in unavailing en- 
deavors to get some sort of a confession out of us, the magistrate 
said, that, notwithstanding there were strong grounds for suspect- 
ing the charge to be true, he could not prove it, and should 
therefore discharge us, and send us back to our respective dis- 
tricts. He sent a letter by me to the magistrate at Campbell- 
town, informing him of what had transpired on the coast, and 
telling him to watch us closely. 

After my return to Campbelltown, I took a job of fencing, in 
company with Elizur Stephens and Michael Fraer. We made 
about three miles of brush fence, at ten cents a rod. It was a 
long job; we worked hard, early and late, boarded ourselves, and 
lived cheap, for the sake of saving a little, and after all never got 
a cent for our zcork ! Our employer failed, and cheated us out 
of the whole. Three days before I left Van Dieman's Land, he 
was hung for murder. His name was Mayo Mix. 

The fence being done, I was again called upon by the govern- 
ment to go out in pursuit of bush-rangers. I was out twelve 
weeks at this time. The incidents of these several excursions 
into the woods, and mountains, and desert places, would fill a 
chapter, if I had space to detail them. 

On my return, Hiram Loop, Chauncey Matthews, and myself 
took another job of fencing, and strained every nerve to make 
something by it. It was a heavy log fence. Never did men 
voluntarily work harder, and, when it was completed, all we had 
left, after paying for our board, was just enough to get each of 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D, IIEUSTIS. 129 

US a pair of pantaloons, and provide us with travelling money till 
we could find other employment. 

About the 20th of October, 1844, we received intelligence, 
by way of a letter from Mr. Everett, the American Minister at 
London, to Mr. Hathaway, our Consul at Hobart Town, that 
thirty-seven of our number had been pardoned by the Queen. 
My name was on the list. The official document did not arrive 
until some time afterwards, and the government minions were not 
a little chagrined that we should receive notice of our pardon in 
this informal manner. 

On the 25th of October, Hiram Loop, James Pierce, and my- 
self engaged to repair a dam for William Gray, Esq., twenty- 
two miles from Campbelltown. This piece of work lasted us till 
December, and proved about as profitable as the last. Labor 
was so cheap that it was impossible to get lucrative contracts. 

Just as we had finished Mr. Gray's dam, official intelligence of 
my pardon reached me through the government gazette. On 
the 1st of January, 1845, I left Campbelltown for Hobart Town. 
As soon as I arrived at the latter place, I went to the Colonial 
Secretary's office, where I found a document, written on parch- 
ment, of which the following is a copy : — 

"Van Dieman's Land. I 

To all to whom these presents shall come. 
I, Sir John Eardley Eardley Wilmot, Baronet, Lieutenant- 
Governor of the Island of Van Dieman's Land, and its De- 
pendencies, send greeting: — 
[l. s.] Whereas, by Her Majesty's royal warrant, under the 
sign manual, bearing date at Buckingham Palace, the third day 
of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, counter- 
signed by one of Her Majesty's Secretaries of State, and ad- 
dressed to the Lieutenant-Governor of the Island of Van Die- 
man's Land for the time being. Her Majesty, the Queen, was 
pleased, in consideration of some circumstances humbly repre- 
sented to her, to extend her grace and mercy unto Daniel D. 
Heustis, who was tried at a Court-Martial in Upper Canada, and 
sentenced to death, which sentence was commuted to transporta- 
tion for life, and to grant him her free pardon for his said crime; 
now know ye, that I, the said Sir John Eardley Eardley Wilmot, 
Baronet, Lieutenant-Governor of the Island of Van Dieman's 
Land, and its Dependencies, have received Her Majesty's war- 
rant, and do hereby certify and declare that the said Daniel D. 
Heustis hath, and ought to enjoy, Her Majesty's free pardon for 
6* 



130 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN IIEUSTIS. 

the said crime whereof he was convicted as aforesaid. And I do 
hereby discharge the said Daniel D. Heustis from all custody in 
respect to his said sentence and transportation. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
the seal of the Island of Van Dieman's Land to be here- 
unto affixed. 
Dated at Hobart Town, this second day of December, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-four. 

J. EARDLEY WILMOT. 
By His Excellency's command, 

J. E. BiCHENO, Colonial Secretary." 

I concluded to remain at Hobart Town, that I might secure a 
passage from the Colony by the first opportunity. I was in 
destitute circumstances, 15,000 miles from home, and, during the 
last five years, not a ship had left the Island, bound direct to the 
United States. 

On the 23d of January, the whale-ship Phcenix, Captain Skin- 
ner, of Bridgeport, Conn., anchored in the harbor. She was 
bound to the Northwest Coast, and I endeavored to persuade the 
captain to take a few of us to the Sandwich Islands, or any other 
place where we could get a passage home. He refused to do 
any thing for us, and I soon discovered that he was one of those 
men who never trouble themselves about performing a generous 
or humane action. One of his crew, a fine young man, whose 
name I have forgotten, died very suddenly while in port, and was 
buried from the colonial hospital. Captain Skinner wanted we 
should assist in conveying the corpse to the grave, and offered to 
pay us for it. Eight or ten of us bore the coffin about a mile, to 
the place of interment, the captain following us in a carriage. 
After the body had been deposited in the earth, the captain drove 
off in his carriage, without so much as thanking us for our ser- 
vices. We cared little for his money or his thanks; the reflec- 
tion that we had done the last sad ofiices of friendship to a fellow 
countryman was all the reward we claimed. Sailors are pro- 
verbial for their kindness to the unfortunate, and I am happy to 
say, that, with the exception of Captain Skinner, we always found 
them disposed to assist us, even when there was much hazard of 
getting into difliculty as the consequence. 



131 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Adieu to Van Dieman's Land — The Whale-Ship Stciglitz — 
The Boston Atlas Exti-a — Death of a Sailor — A Ship in 
Distress — Killing Wlialcs — Dinner loith a King at the 
Society Islands — Arrival at Honolulu — Kind Reception — 
Departure for California — Arrival at Monterey. 

On the 26th of January, the whale-ship Steiglitz, Captain Se- 
lah Young, also from Bridgeport, put into Hobart Town. I met 
the captain on the wharf, immediately after he landed. There 
was something in his appearance which convinced me, at first 
sight, that an appeal to his generosity would not be in vain, and 
I was not deceived. I explained to him our unfortunate and des- 
titute situation, and he accompanied me to the American Con- 
sul's office. After listening to my story, he said that his accom- 
modations were not suitable for passengers; but, as we were 
anxious to get away, and were willing to take such fare as he 
could offer, he would agree to carry as many men as we could 
get together in three days, which was as long as he could remain 
in port. 

Our comrades were scattered in different parts of the Island, 
some of them 100 miles distant. John Thomas, Nelson Griggs, 
and myself immediately set ourselves at work in collecting to- 
gether those who had been pardoned, and, at the end of the three 
days, we had a jovial company of twenty-seven on board the ship. 
The last of them arrived about ten o'clock at night of the 28th, 
and I had the pleasure of escorting them on board. 

Captain Young took us on his own responsibility, and person- 
ally incurred all the expense, that the owners of the ship might 
have no cause of complaint. Those of us who belonged east of 
Buffalo, being twenty, gave him a bond, by which we jointly and 
severally agreed to pay him $30 for each man, amounting in all 
to $600, after our arrival in the United States. Those belong- 
ing west of Buffalo, in Ohio and Michigan, gave another bond, 
of the same import. Since my arrival home, measures have been 
taken to raise this money, and if it has not already been paid, it 
is believed that the numerous friends of the unfortunate exiles 
will cheerfully contribute the amount. 



133 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

On the morning of the 29th of January, 1845, the ship was 
got underway, and proceeded down the Derwent, in beautiful 
style. How different were my feelings, as I paced the deck, from 
what they were when I ascended the same stream, in the prison- 
ship Buffalo, five years before ! Then, dark forebodings racked 
my imagination. Now, instead of gloomy despair, mirth and joy 
beamed in every face, and liberty's bright banner, the glorious 
stars and stripes, flaunted in triumph over my head. My in- 
most soul danced with joy, and but for the sad reflection that so 
many of my brave comrades still pined in the land of slavery, 
I should have been supremely happy. What was wealth to me ? 
I was free ! With scarcely a penny in my pocket, I felt as rich 
as Croesus ! British tyranny had fastened no stain upon my rep- 
utation, and already visions of home, and brighter days, were 
flitting before me, and I was buoyant with hope ! 

The breeze freshened, and onward dashed the gallant ship, 
leaving a wake straight as an arrow, whitened with the eddying 
foam that rolled from her sides. Houses and trees soon melted 
into naked outlines, the iron-bound shore became levelled with 
the ocean, and, ere the sun had set. Mount Wellington alone was 
seen towering above the ocean. I gazed upon this last landmark 
of misery's abode until it was lost in the darkness of night. 
Adieu, detested land of unmitigated wretchedness! 

Captain Young had provided amply for our accommodation 
below. The half deck had been enlarged, and berths were con- 
structed on each side, abaft the mainmast, for our sleeping quar- 
ters. A brief description of the ship will convey some idea of our 
situation, and also tend to explain our future movements. Her 
upper deck was flush, with a hurricane house aft, having state- 
rooms on each side, but open amidships. Amidships, abaft the 
fore hatchway, her try- works were located. They contained two 
large iron pots, under which were furnaces, facing forward. 
Alongside of the works were two square copper coolers, in 
which the oil was cooled off, preparatory to being put into casks. 
Abaft the try-works, the decks were covered with sheathing, to 
protect them from the edges of the spades, when the blubber was 
being cut up. The spare boats were stowed bottom up, on 
skeeds over head, on the quarter-deck ; and, of those in use, three 
were suspended over the larboard side, and one over the star- 
board quarter. This last was the captain's boat ; the others were 
headed by the mates. Below, forward, was the forecastle in 
which the sailors resided ; abaft the mainmast was the half deck, 
the home of the boatsteerers, coopers, carpenters, blacksmith, and 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 133 

Other petty officers. In this division of the ship we were located. 
The captain, his three mates, and the steward, lived in the cabin. 
The ship's complement of men and boys numbered, in all, about 
thirty souls, but she was several hands short. 

The space before the mainmast, across in the wake of the 
main hatchway, was the blubber-room. Here the blubber, as 
taken from the whales, was hove in, leaned, and cut up into 
horse pieces. The other parts of the between-decks contained 
provisions, stores, &c., and the lower hold was filled with casks 
and shooks. 

The Steiglitz was a fine ship, of 390 tons register, and hailed 
from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Originally, like most of our 
whalers, she had been a merchant ship, and as such was exten- 
sively known as a very fast sailer. Connected with her reputa- 
tion as a fast sailer, an incident occurred some years ^go, which 
created considerable excitement at the time. The Boston Atlas, 
under the editorial management of the late Richard Haughton, 
a man of the most indomitable energy, had acquired an enviable 
reputation for obtaining important intelligence in advance of. all 
the other papers, and also had the credit, at least among its po- 
litical opponents, of manufacturing pretty large stories to in- 
fluence the elections. Some wags attached to a rival establish- 
ment, for the purpose of enjoying a little fun at the expense of 
the Atlas, fabricated some exclusive intelligence for it. The 
ship Steiglitz was supposed to be on her passage from Liverpool, 
bound for Boston, and her arrival was announced in flaming cap- 
itals, in an extra, purporting to be issued from the Atlas oflice. 
The European intelligence by the previous arrivals was carried 
down to the time of the sailing of the Steiglitz, with considera- 
ble ingenuity. The predictions of excited politicians, in relation 
to the troubled state of Europe, were fulfilled by this intelli- 
gence, and war, if not actually declared, was, nevertheless, inev- 
itable. The reports of the markets were also carefully made up, 
to correspond with the dolesome state of the times, and this in- 
telligence, credited to the Boston Atlas, was extensively circula- 
ted and republished in all parts of the country. The extra was 
issued on Saturday afternoon, and sent off" in the mails, so that 
no exposure of the trick would follow before Monday. In the 
evening, the city was flooded with the extras. The next morn- 
ing, when the merchants visited Topliff''s Reading Room, the 
stirring news brought by the Steiglitz soon became the theme of 
speculation. Numbers went to the office of the Atlas, to see the 
foreign papers from which its extra had been compiled, when, of 



131 CAPTIVITY AND ADVEXTURKS OF 

course, the honx was discovered. But the excitement was so 
great, that the editor of the Atlas actually issued an extra, ex- 
posing the fraud, and offering a reward for the detection of those 
who had perpetrated it. For years afterward, when any impor- 
tant foreign news appeared in an extra, the question was inva- 
riably asked: "Is it by the fast-sailing ship Steiglitz?" 

But let us return to a description of our voyage. In the morn- 
ing, at daylight, one of the mates and a foremast hand went to 
the fore topgallant-masthead, a boatsteerer to the main, and one 
of the green hands to the mizen, to look out for whales. The 
officer generally remained four hours aloft, but the others were 
relieved every two hours regularly. 

Our captain was a noble-hearted sailor, and those under his 
command were cheerful and active in the discharge of their duty. 
When we. had been four days at sea, a gale sprang up, which 
blew with great fury, and created a tremendous cross-sea. In 
securing some of the casks on deck, with extra lashings, one of 
them unfortunately broke loose, and, as it bounded to leeward, 
knocked a Portuguese sailor against the bulwarks, and crushed 
him to death. This sad accident threw a damper upon the sports 
of the crew, and for several days the merits of the deceased 
formed the subject of their yarns. Every old salt who had wit- 
nessed a death at sea, had to relate how it happened, and what 
were the good qualities of the deceased, for sailors remember 
only the virtues of the dead, and esteem it a presage of bad luck 
to speak evil of the departed. 

A few days afterward, a ship was reported from the mast-head, 
and, as we neared her, she threw out the American ensign, 
union down, as a signal of distress. We boarded her, and 
learned that her captain, whose name was Collins, (the ship's 
name has escaped my memory,) had died a few days previous, 
and that the crew refused to prosecute the voyage, and insisted 
upon going into port or else returning home, although the .ship 
was just out, and almost empty. Captain Young mildly repre- 
sented to them the unreasonableness of their conduct, and urged 
them to return to their duty like men, and fill the ship, as the 
best and surest way to reach home, and be rewarded for their la- 
bors. His advice was taken, the sailors returned to their duty, 
and the ships filled away, and were soon out of sight of each 
other. 

We continued cruising, at the same time shaping our course 
for the Society Islands, but for weeks no whales crossed our ho- 
rizon. The ocean, however, uas alive with fish; and squid, 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 135 

whales' food, was passed in abundance. " Keep a sharp look- 
out there, at the mast-heads," our anxious captain sung out more 
or less every day, as he walked the quarter-deck, and " Ay, ay, 
sir," would be tlie answer from aloft. In the mean time, the 
ship's company were employed repairing sails, fitting spare 
whaling craft, coopering, tinkering, 6lc. The watch on deck 
always had something to do, while the watch below were left 
masters of their own time. Some of the lazy ones would sleep; 
others would read, mend or make clothes, scrimshank whale- 
bone into canes, busks, or ornaments, for their friends ashore. 
The last dog-watch, between six and eight o'clock, was the 
season for sport. Then, all hands, in fine weather, generally 
came on deck, and sung songs, spun yarns, danced or frolicked, 
until the first watch was set. We were treated with great kind- 
ness by the crew, and often participated in their evening sports. 

One afternoon, while the ship was dodging along, close-hauled 
on the larboard tack, under double-reefed topsails, foresail, jib, 
and spanker, a heavy cross-sea running at the time, the look-out 
at the main, in a clear voice, drawn out to the last note of his 
breath, sung out, " Thar she blows." The first sound gave 
warning of what would follow, and before the ''blows" had died 
away, all hands were on deck, but so quiet in their movements, 
that not a sound arose to mar the music from the mast-head. 
Captain Young had his hand upon the foremost swifter of the 
main rigging, ready for a spring aloft, and the men, with up- 
turned faces, were distributed over the deck, ready to obey or- 
ders. " Where away?" in response, demanded the captain, in a 
quick and stirring tone, when the mast-head man had finished 
his long-drawn song. " Two miles and a half off to leeward, 
about three points abaft the beam, sir," was the reply. " Thar 
again," continued the look-out, "there's two of them, sir, sperm 
whales, by G — !" "Thar again," and ** thar again," was con- 
tinued, from all three mast-heads, at intervals of thirty or forty 
seconds, the time between the spouting or blowing of the whales. 
The sperm whale is more uniform in its blowing than any other 
whale, and its spout also differs in appearance. It ascends 
obliquely, and resolves into a bushy, smoke-like spray, and soon 
disappears, while the right whale and finback blow perpendicu- 
larly to a great height, and their spouting continues visible sev- 
eral seconds longer than that of the sperm whale. " Thar goes 
flukes, thar goes flukes," continued the look-outs, " headed to 
windward, sir; looks like a cow and a calf" "Note the time, 
on deck," shouted the captain, who was now aloft himself, " and 



136 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

loose the mainsail and set it." Sperm whales, when making a 
passage, are generally very regular in the time they remain down, 
which is longer or shorter, according to their size. A large 
whale will stop down from twenty minutes to half an hour, and a 
school whale about fifteen minutes; but, if feeding, or playing 
round, they are irregular in their movements. When the mast- 
head men sung out, '' thar goes flukes," the whales had gone be- 
low, and the subsequent order to " note the time," was given 
with a view to know when they might be expected up again. 

The mainsail was set, the ship hove about on the starboard 
tack, the boats swayed up, and every thing got in readiness for 
lowering. ''Black skin, on the lee bow; thar she blows," was 
sung out from aloft. "Thar again," and "thar again," was 
continued during another rising, and by this time the ship had 
reached far enough ahead to bring the whales on the lee beam. 
" Haul the mainsail up, ease away the jib sheet, back the main- 
topsail, and let her come to the wind, gently," were orders given 
by the captain, and quickly obeyed without confusion, or unneces- 
sary noise. The whales were now about a mile and a half dead 
to leeward, heading right for the ship, but moving very slowly. 
When the ship's way had been deadened, the three larboard boats 
were lowered ; but, before they had got many yards from the 
ship, the whales had gone down again. Each boat contained six 
men, five of whom pulled, and one steered. The headsman of a 
whale-boat is generally one of the mates or captain, and, when 
leaving the ship in pursuit of whales, he steers the boat, and the 
boatsteerer, so called, pulls the bow oar, until near the whale, 
when, in obedience to the orders of the officer aft, he peaks his 
oar, and fastens, after which he shifts aft and steers the boat, 
while the officer goes forward and lances the whale. 

In a whale-boat, there are two tubs of lines, placed so as to 
ballast the boat properly for pulling. To one end of the line, an 
iron or harpoon is bent, and around the line another rope, with 
a running eye in it, is fastened to a second iron. Both of the har- 
poons are placed in a crutch, which is inserted in the foremost 
row-lock, having their poles (for they are socketed with heavy 
hard-wood poles) resting in such positions as to be seized readily, 
and darted without confusion. Six or seven fathoms of line for 
each harpoon is coiled into the bow or box of the boat, and the 
bight of the line, leading from the bow over the oars, is passed 
over a loggerhead aft, within control of the boatsteerer. 

The boats pulled about a mile apart, thus spreading the 
chance to pounce upon the whales when they should appear, 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 137 

and the ship had again filled away, and made sail upon a wind. 
The calf broke water first, almost under the bow of the mate's 
boat, and, in an instant, the boatsteerer's oar was peaked, and 
with the harpoon poised, ready for darting, he only wanted to be 
a few yards nearer to dart. He beckoned with the left hand to 
lay the boat on toward the young whale, which was now coming 
right for the boat, head on. Another stroke of the oars, and a 
sudden sweep with the steer oar, brought the boat almost square 
off and on to the whale ; the boat was stopped, and both irons 
flew with well-directed vigor, but, ere they reached their aim, the 
cow whale broke water between them and her calf, and received 
both irons, abaft the hump. She fairly breached out of water, 
and covered the boat so entirely in a column of spray, as for sev- 
eral seconds to shroud her from view. " Stern hard, my boys," 
shouted the mate, who had now assumed his station forward, 
" so, stoppa, slack line." The whale had now taken to wind- 
ward, throwing her head out of water, darting along at her ut- 
most speed, blowing like a high-pressure steam-engine, and 
making the water fly over the boat, in whitened foam. Her calf 
kept close alongside of her, blowing and breaching about, as if 
conscious that all was not well with its mother. The sea was 
very rough, and the boat had to be managed with great caution, 
especially when the whale took a sudden turn, stopped short, or 
went down. Far as the eye could reach, the other boats were 
seen dead to leeward, pulling for dear life, in the oily wake, to 
reach the whale, for it was well known that if any more whales 
were in the vicinity, they would be sure to make for the wounded 
one. Having wearied herself with running to windward, the 
whale hove to, and began rolling over and over, thrashing the 
water with her flukes, and breaching. '' Haul in slack-line, my 
lads," cried the mate ; " pull, and I'll kill her dead with a lance ; 
pull, lay on; there, now — stoppa; stern hard; stern, or you'll 
get knocked into minced-meat ; that'll do," as he withdrew the 
lance from her vitals; " now, my lads," resumed he, " look out; 
she is in her flurry ; mind your oars." Circling round, in the 
agonies of death, spouting thick blood, and accompanied by her 
calf, she continued running about ten minutes, then rolled fin 
out, turned her head toward the sun, and blowed her last. 

When the other boats came up, they lanced and killed the 
calf, and then both were towed to the ship together, and made 
fast alongside. It was now dark. The boats were hoisted up, 
sail shortened, and the ship hove to for the night. As the ship 
was short of hands, several of our men went in the boats, and 



138 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HEUSTI«. 

pulled very well, considering the roughness of the sea, and theii 
inexperience in the business. 

The cutting-in purchases, which consist of two large tackles, 
from the mainmast-head, were rove during the night, and the 
next morning, at daylight, we commenced cutting in. The cow 
whale was a large one, being over forty feet in length. A sperm 
whale's head is square at the end, and is said to be one third as 
large as the body ; the spout-hole is at the extreme of the head ; 
the eyes are small, and f^ir back in the head, near the body ; the 
jaw is small, and is furnished with ivory teeth, with indentations 
in the upper part of the mouth to receive them; the fins, of which 
there are two, are small, and are abaft the eyes; next comes the 
hump, which presents a broken outline along the back down to 
the smallest part before the tail or flukes ; the flukes are hori- 
zontal, not vertical, with a small slit in the middle, and are very 
hard ; the skin is generally black, excepting about the belly and 
under the fins, which is a light slate color. The blubber on a 
whale bears about the same proportion to the whole as the fat of 
a pig to its body. In cutting up, the head is divided into two 
parts, termed junlc and case, the former consisting of fine fat 
blubber, and the other containing oil, or fat, so tender that it can 
be squeezed into liquid, by hand. The entire head of a small 
whale can be hove in on deck, but with a large whale it is neces- 
sary to cut the junk from the case, and then to heave the latter 
into such a position that its contents can be bailed out with 
buckets. 

For cutting in, the Avhale is made fast alongside, with the 
flukes forward and the head aft, nearly opposite the main chan- 
nel on the starboard side. Before the gangway there is a stage 
over the side, upon which the second mate stands, secured round 
the waist with a belt, and abaft the gangway there is another 
stage, for the chief mate. The blubber spade is ground and oil- 
stoned as sharp as a razor, and has a blade about six inches wide, 
which gradually decreases and forms a socket, into which a long 
pole is secured. There is also a circular spade, used for cutting 
round holes, for inserting a hook or strap, as the blubber is not 
so liable to tear when cut round, as it is when cut square. The 
first hole cut is close abaft the head, and into it a large hook is 
inserted by one of the boatsteerers, who sits upon the whale for 
that purpose. This duty is termed Ids Jwok on, and is performed 
in turns. When the hook is inserted, the fall of the tackle ox 
purchase attached to it is brought around the windlass forward, 
and then hove taut. Then a strip about four feet wide is marked. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 139 

the forward part of which is cut by the second mate, and the 
after part by the chief mate, who, also, as the windlass raises the 
blubber, and gives the whale a rolling motion, cuts off the head. 
When the blubber is hove as high as the blocks will admit, a hole 
is cut in it, close to the gangway, and into this hole the strap of 
the other purchase is inserted and secured with a toggle, (a large 
piece of wood,) and is hove taut. This done, the blubber is cut 
square off — now termed a blanket-piece — and lowered down 
the main hatchway into the blubber-room. In this way the 
whale is turned round and round, until the whole of its blubber 
is stripped off, and the head and flukes severed from the body, 
which is then termed a carcass, and cut adrift. In the blubber- 
room the lean is carefully taken off with knives, and then the 
blubber is cut up into oblong pieces, called horse-pieces, which 
are laid on a horse of wood, projecting from the windlass, with 
stout pegs on each side to prevent its rolling off, and a boy with 
a small iron hook, called a gaff, holds on to one end of it, while the 
horse-man, with a two-handed knife, minces it up. It is then 
pitched into the pots, and boiled out. The scraps which remain 
become fuel, and are used in the furnaces. When the pots are 
full, the clear oil is bailed out into copper coolers, and, when 
properly cooled, is stowed away in casks below, with great care, 
by the chief mate and the boatsteerers. Sometimes, when only 
a small whale is taken, its blubber is cut up on deck, which, as 
I have before stated, is covered with sheathing for that purpose. 
The heads, too, are always cut up on deck. The cow and calf 
stowed down about forty-five barrels of oil. 

Such is whaling, as it appeared to me on board the Steiglitz, 
and as I learned it from those who had witnessed many scenes 
of the kind. It is a hard and perilous business, in which none 
but men of strong arms and lion hearts are suitable to engage. 
There is much about it that is disagreeable, and yet there are 
thousands who have become so much attached to this rugged 
mode of life, that they can hardly be persuaded to abandon it, 
even in their old age. After having been rocked for years on the 
rolling deep, in perils oft, amid tempestuous storms, and in haz- 
ardous and exciting encounters with the objects of their pursuit, 
they feel that life on shore is dull and tiresome. y 

The first place we touched at was Oheteroa, one of the So- 
ciety Islands, where Nelson Griggs and myself went ashore with 
the captain, and dined with the king, the young princesses vol- 
unteering to keep off the flies, by waving cocoa leaves over our 
heads. The dinner was served up in pretty good style. We 



140 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

had baked chickens, fish, and bananas, with a good cup of tea 
Various kinds of fruit were also on the table. We spent the day 
with the king, and Captain Young bought oranges, lemons, ba- 
nanas, plantains, cocoa-nuts, &/C., of the natives, for the ship's 
company. The king kept a book, in which the captains of ships 
recorded their names, the date of their visit to the Island, and 
where bound, with such other facts as might be useful to those 
who came afterward. In looking over this record. Captain Young 
ascertained that his brother had been there two years before. 

The next place we visited was Otaheite, another of the Society 
Islands. We found this Island under martial law, in conse- 
quence of a difficulty between the French and English. We 
were not allowed to go ashore until we had reported ourselves on 
board the French man-of-war which was lying in the harbor. 
Not finding any vessel here bound to the United States, we again 
set sail for the Sandwich Islands, where we arrived on the 29th 
of April, and put into Honolulu, after a passage of ninety days 
from Hobart Town. 

Captain Young interceded with the king, and obtained per- 
mission for us to remain there, without paying the sum usually 
required. The king said he would grant us this privilege, on 
account of his strong friendship toward the United States. To 
us, this favor was peculiarly gratifying, as it showed that our 
country was respected in these distant Islands. 

The Steiglitz remained in port six days, and, being short of 
hands, seven of our men shipped for the remainder of the voy- 
age. They were expected to arrive home in the spring of 1847. 

The morning after we arrived at Honolulu, Captain Brewer — 
of the firm of Brewer & Marshall, American merchants at that 
place — called to see us, and procured us a boarding place for a 
week, at his own expense, to give us an opportunity to find em- 
ployment, until we could engage a passage home. Captain 
Brewer, I believe, is a native of Boston ; he is entitled to our 
warmest thanks for his generous attentions. 

We also formed an acquaintance with Carter & Thompson, 
who went from Charlestown, Massachusetts, and were keeping 
the best hotel in the place. They interested themselves in our 
behalf, as did all the Americans residing there, except our Con- 
sul, Mr. Hooper, who treated us with marked coolness. 

Hiram Grimes, formerly of Boston, and of the firm of E. &. H. 
Grimes, called to see us. He wanted me to go to California to 
take the charge of a ranche, or farm, twenty-one miles square, 
which he and his uncle owned, and of which the latter had the 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 141 

superintendence. It was situated about 300 miles north of Mon- 
terey, between the Sacramento and the American Fork Rivers. 
On this farm they had between three and four thousand head of 
cattle, and two or three hundred horses. Indians were employed 
to do the work, and I was wanted for an overseer. I agreed to 
go for one year, if they would also hire John Thomas. This con- 
dition was complied with, and the bargain concluded. 

On the 7th of May, having stopped at Honolulu eight days, we 
embarked in the American ship Fama,, bound for California. 
Our comrades still remaining on the Island, through the kind- 
ness of Captain Brewer and other Americans, had found such 
employment as would enable them to earn a living until they 
could get a passage home. The Fama was a Boston ship, em- 
ployed in the trade between the Sandwich Islands and California. 
We had a pleasant voyage of eighteen days, and arrived at Mon- 
terey on the 25th. 

We immediately called on the American Consul, Thomas O. 
Larkin, Esq., who received us in a very gentlemanly manner, 
and manifested a ready disposition to serve us. Our instructions 
being to remain at Monterey until we heard from the elder Mr. 
Grimes, on the ranche, Mr. Larkin directed us to a good board- 
ing house, where we patiently waited about twenty days, at the 
end of which Mr. Grimes came to see us. He informed us that 
he had hired the overseer he had the year before, and should 
therefore have no occasion for our services. He said, however, 
that he was willing to do what was right by us, and wished us to 
think the matter over, and let him know the next morning how 
we should be willing to compromise. Finally, we told him if he 
would give us $100 each, and pay our bills up to that time, we 
would call it square. He paid us the money without any hesi- 
tation, and thus terminated our contract with Mr. Grimes. 



142 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Preparations to cross the Rocky Mountains — Commencement 
of the Journey — Incidents on the Route — Arrival at Neuva 
Helvetia — Captain Sutter — Further Travels — Sickness of 
the Guide — Abandonment of the Expedition — Extensive 
Travels in California — Description of the Country — Its 
Agricultural and Commercial Advantages — Voyage to Val- 
paraiso — Return Home in the Ship Edward Everett. 

We remained in Monterey until toward the last of June, in 
the hope of getting a passage home. At that time we fell in 
with William Fellon, a trapper, who was anxious to cross the 
Rocky Mountains to St. Louis, where he belonged. He had 
spent twenty-two years in the mountains, and was perfectly ac- 
quainted with the route across them, and with all the Indian 
tribes that inhabit those regions. As we were very anxious to 
get home, we agreed to accompany him, and immediately com- 
menced making the preparations. We bought six horses and 
four mules, with a suitable equipment of saddles and pack-sad- 
dles. We killed three cows, and dried the meat, for use on the 
way, and also laid in a stock of flour, coffee, sugar, &lc. AH 
these things, and a few cooking utensils, were packed up in al- 
focuses, or large leather bags, made to fit on the backs of mules. 

On the evening of the 4th of July, Mr. Larkin, the American 
Consul, gave a fandango, or ball, in honor of the day, at which 
the principal citizens of the place were in attendance. We had 
a fine dance, an excellent supper, and a gay and happy company. 
Every thing was conducted with propriety, and in good taste. 
The Spanish ladies made an elegant appearance, in form, dress, 
and manners. 

On the 9th of July, dressed in regular Rocky Mountain suits, 
made of deer-skins, and armed with rifles, we commenced our 
travels. Mr. Fellon, our guide, had seven horses, and three 
mules. We passed Mission St. John,* and. the second night, 



* These Missions were settlements formed by Catholic priests, and 
were, at one time, in a very flourishing temporal condition, carrying 
on a lucrative trade in hides, tallow, and other articles, with vessels 



ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HEUSTIS. 143 

encamped on the ranche of a Spaniard, named Perchaquer, who 
has the greatest herd of cattle of any man in California, at the 
present time. He has 20,000 head of horned cattle. 

The next day we passed Mission St. Hosea, or St. Joseph. 
We then crossed the coast range of mountains — on which we 
encamped several nights — into the Tule Plains, on the San 
Joaquin River. On the mountains, we passed through fields 
of wild oats, more than a hundred miles in extent, of luxuriant 
growth, being more than three feet high. The elk, the deer, the 
antelope, and other wild animals, found in great numbers in those 
regions, feed on these oats. With our rifles we occasionally 
killed these animals, and made several hearty meals of the 
roasted meat. 

We followed the course of the San Joaquin, downward, two 
or three days, and then crossed the stream, and travelled north, 
till we came to the Casna River, on the banks of which we found 
an English settler, William Daly, the first white inhabitant we 
saw after leaving Perchaquer's, a distance of more than 250 miles. 
During the journey, we had been obliged to keep a night-watch 
on our horses, to prevent their being stolen by the Indians, whom 
we encountered almost every day. We tied our horses with a 
lasso,, six or seven fathoms long, which gave them a chance to 
feed, while we took turns in watching them. The prairie wolves 
would sometimes come and gnaw off the lasso, and let the horses 
loose. 

We stopped at Daly's hut a few days, while Fellon went over 
the bay to Sanoma, on business. While stopping there. Captain 
Sutter, at Neuva Helvetia, sixteen miles distant, heard of us, and 
sent us a kind invitation to call upon him, which I accepted. 
Captain Sutter emigrated to this country several years ago, from 
Missouri, and formed the first settlement in the valley of the Sa- 
cramento, on a large grant of land which he obtained from the 

from the United States and England, and buying up whole cargoes of 
goods brought I'rom those countries. The priests had a high reputation 
as traders, and were very rich, and very honest in their dealings. Their 
chief merit is to be found, however, in their kind treatment of the In- 
dians, not less than twenty-five thousand of whom were living under 
them, as laborers. One of the results of the overthrow of the Spanish 
dominion in Mexico, was tlie suppression of these Missions. Some 
idea of their wealth may be formed, when it is known that many of 
them possessed 100,000 head of cattle each, together v/ith horses and 
stock in the same proportion. The time of their greatest prosperity 
would seem to have been coeval with the last forty years of the domina- 
tion of Old Spain. 



144 



CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 



Mexican government. He bought a large number of stock, anc 
a variety of agricultural stores, pieces of artillery, and other mu- 
nitions of war, of the neighboring Russian settlement at Ross. 
which was about to withdraw from the country. For these, he 
makes a regular yearly payment in grain. He has constructed a 
fort, mounting twelve pieces of artillery, and capable of admitting 
a garrison of a thousand men. The Sacramento is navigable for 
vessels, and Captain Sutter owns several, which he employs prin- 
cipally in his business. He told me he should sow 2400 acres 
of wheat. I saw as many as 300 Indians in his employ. He 
pays them in beads, trinkets, and clothing ; but they were entire- 
ly naked when I saw them. 

It was under Captain Sutter's hospitable roof that Captain 
Fremont and his party found shelter, rest, and refreshment, after 
being nearly starved to death on the mountains, as they were 
returning from their exploring expedition to Oregon, in the 
spring of 1844. 

On the 2d day of August, we left Daly's, and encamped the 
first night by the side of the American Fork. The next day 
we crossed the river, and travelled north, reaching Bear River at 
night. On the third day we went to Feather River, and here 
Fellon, our guide, was taken sick. We found that we should be 
detained some time, and the prospect of being out on the moun- 
tains, in the midst of winter, was not very agreeable. We had 
also discovered that our guide was a man of less energy and res- 
olution than we had supposed. Under these circumstances, we 
concluded to abandon the idea of crossing the Rocky Mountains. 
Fellon having been left in the care of an old friend of his, named 
Shadden, who would bestow on him every attention which his 
situation demanded, Thomas and I started on a retreat. 

We went back to Neuva Helvetia, and sold our horses and 
other equipments to Captain Sutter, at a great sacrifice, and took 
in payment a draft on a Mr. Campbell, of St. Louis, which Cap- 
tain Fremont had paid to one of his men, a blacksmith, named 
Neal, who had been induced to remain with Captain Sutter. 

We learned that there was a whale-ship at Yerba Buena, bound 
to the United States. We started immediately, in one of Cap- 
tain Sutter's schooners, and in six days arrived at Yerba Buena, 
just in time to be one day too late. Thomas concluded to re- 
main there, to embrace the next opportunity to get home which 
might present itself I met Mr. Willard Buzzell, who formerly 
lived in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and went with him to drive a 
herd of cattle to a new ranche, on the American Fork. We 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 145 

drove up 300 cows and 200 horses. The journey occupied 
twenty-one days, and gave me a fine chance to examine the 
country. We then crossed the Sacramento, and went about 250 
miles, to what is called Yount's Valley, after more cattle. We 
obtained 400 head of horned cattle, and 100 horses, and drove 
them to the ranche. In this trip, I went to Captain Smith's 
ranche, at Bodega, near Ross, on the coast. Captain Smith 
was formerly of Baltimore; he has a fine place, is building 
flour-mills, and making preparations to recruit vessels with pro- 
visions, &c. 

When I arrived at Mr. Buzzell's ranche the last time, I found 
a letter from Thomas, informing me that there was a vessel at 
Sousaleta, eight miles from Yerba Buena, in which we could get 
a passage to Valparaiso. Buzzell offered to give me three miles 
square of his land, if I would stay in the country, or if I would 
return, after visiting my friends. He was a brother of the man 
concerned in burning the Convent, at Charlestown. 

Having seen much of this interesting portion of the world, and 
public events having drawn the attention of the American people 
to the Californias, I will speak briefly of their agricultural and 
commercial capabilities. They are doubtless destined to be- 
come important sections of the American continent, and would 
long since have risen to eminence, had they been possessed by 
a race competent to develop their resources, and to complete 
the work so well commenced by nature. 

Upper California is by far the most valuable, whether we con- 
sider its natural endowments or the promise which it gives of 
future greatness. Lower California, though in many respects 
inferior, is by no means a worthless territory. It cannot, 
in its present physical state, support a dense population, for, 
being a volcanic country, it necessarily suffers from the lack of 
water. Streams and springs are rare ; and, where they do exist, 
much of the soil is unsuitable for cultivation. Violent hurri- 
canes, accompanied by heavy rains, sweep away much of the 
soil ; yet we should not hastily say that this land is irredeemable ; 
that a country almost as large in extent as the entire of England, 
Scotland, and Wales, is condemned to perpetual unfruitfulness. 
In those portions of Lower California in which water and good 
land are found together, the productive powers of the soil are 
vast. I have no doubt that, in the hands of an active, energetic, 
and industrious people — emigrants, for example, from New Eng- 
land and New York — this country would be measurably re- 
deemed. It suffers, in all likelihood, as much from the ignor- 
7 



146 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

ance, imbecility, and indolence of its inhabitants, as from any 
original defects in itself Strong men, men of stout hearts and 
able hands, would cause the land to bend to their will and be- 
come fruitful. 

Some portions of the country now yield, abundantly, wheat, 
maize, barley, &c. ; and many of the tropical fruits are common. 
Among the animals are horses, mules, black cattle, goats, and 
hogs. The sea-coast rewards the toil of the fisherman with a 
great variety of fish, whose quantity is only exceeded by their 
quality. Thousands of Yankees might live easily on the coast, 
and, from the fish they caught, would create a mighty trade, 
as fruitful of wealth as that which the Dutch once carried on in 
the herring-fishery. There are profitable pearl-fisheries on this 
coast, which would undoubtedly yield far better than they now 
do, if managed by people with more of the " go ahead " principle 
in them. It is not improbable, from certain indications, that 
gold and silver abound in the country. 

The people of Lower California consist of whites, blacks, and 
the mixed breeds, formed by marriages among the different 
races. They are three or four thousand in number, but are both 
ignorant and licentious. 

Upper California is in many respects a very different country; 
it has been more favored by nature. Whether considered in 
reference to its commercial or its agricultural resources, it alike 
demands and receives the warmest eulogiums of the traveller. It 
is hoped that a superior race of men may one day inherit this 
country, so richly endowed with natural advantages. 

Tiiere are several rivers which will be found useful in internal 
Tiavigation, and are now the cause of fruitfulness to the soil. 
The valleys of the large rivers, as those of the San Joaquin and 
the Sacramento, abound with rich soil, valuable productions, 
and useful animals ; and need only be settled by industrious 
and ingenious people, to yield, bountifully, many of the most 
valuable articles of commerce. The valley of the Sacramento, 
particularly, is the scene of great beauty and excellence. The 
land is mostly rich, the productions varied, and the means of im- 
provement vast. In wood, this valley is uncommonly rich, both 
as to quantity and quality. There is plenty of white pine, of the 
largest description ; the common white oak, which grows to a 
great size, and in a form of singular beauty ; abundance of live 
oak, furnishing timber of rare excellence, and the white oak 
proper, the noblest in the world ; the ash, also good ; and the 
beautiful plane-tree, which reaches to a very great height. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 147 

The climate of this valley is various. That portion of it which 
is near the mouth of the river, and for about one hundred miles 
up the stream, is very hot in summer, though modified by sea- 
breezes ; while the upper country has a climate unsurpassed 
upon the face of the earth. 

The valley of the San Joaquin is a beautiful country ; but 
during the rainy season it becomes completely saturated with 
water, while the dry season causes it to resemble a blazing fur- 
nace. The exhalations from the water give rise to fatal diseases, 
but this difficulty might be remedied. The waters accumulated 
during the months of rain, and the drying up of which in the hot 
season causes so much injury, might all be carried into the San 
Joaquin, by artificial means. This would have been done long 
ago had the country been settled by the Anglo-Saxon race. It 
would pay for reclaiming, as it contains some six hundred miles 
of the richest prairie land in the world, vast forests, valuable 
timber, and a great variety of animals. Rice might also be culti- 
vated with success on the islands near the mouth of the river. 

The valley of the Jesus Maria River is also a fine country. 
That of the Clamet lies north of the Snowy Mountains, and, 
were natural boundaries regarded, would be held as belonging to 
the American portion of Oregon. It is represented as rich and 
beautiful, but the Clamet does not fall into the Bay of San Fran- 
cisco, as do the other rivers above named. That portion of 
the country lying to the north of the regions already spoken of 
is very valuable, and without doubt will one day be the home of a 
powerful people. 

Even now, as poorly as the soil is cultivated, agriculture yields 
immensely in Upper California. Indian corn, wheat, barley, 
and oats grow abundantly. The sweet potatoe, and the common 
kind, yield good crops. Hemp and flax might be grown in in- 
definite quantities ; and of fruits there are grapes, olives, figs, 
lemons, oranges, &c. 

I have said that California is destined to be a great commercial 
country. It would seem to be some contradiction to this, to say that 
it has only two good harbors, on a sea-coast of more than twelve 
hundred miles. But these harbors are among the finest in the 
world, and capable of supplying the wants of the most extend- 
ed commerce that either the ambition or the avarice of man 
could create. That of San Diego is situated in latitude 33° 
17' north, and is both safe and commodious. The Bay of San 
Francisco is that which must, however, attract the greatest de- 
gree of attention, and toward which the eyes of the statesmen of 



148 CAPTIVITJf AND ADVENTURES OF 

the old world have been directed for several years past. It is ob- 
vious that a revolution would be worked in commerce, should 
the country to which this bay belongs come into the possession 
of a hardy and industrious people, with tastes and abilities for 
maritime pursuits. There is no doubt that England has been 
looking at it, with covetous eyes, for a long time. That it is an 
object worthy of human ambition, and likely to give the utmost 
power to those holding it, in those seas on which future empire 
is to be contended for, will appear from a description of its sit- 
uation and advantages. 

The entrance to the Bay of San Francisco is in latitude 37° 
58' north, and the water on the bar is about fifty feet deep, at 
low tide. The passage into the bay is five miles long, and sus- 
ceptible of thorough defence. The entrance is two miles wide 
on the ocean. Where the channel commences opening into the 
bay, are two islands, so placed as to allow those holding them to 
completely command the channel itself, and all points of entrance 
into the difterent parts of the bay. From the channel to the 
northeastern point of the bay, the distance is thirty-five miles; to 
the northern point, twenty-four miles. The bay itself varies in 
width, in different parts, from four to twenty miles. It is full of 
islands, and in all parts of it the anchorage is good, its shores 
abounding with havens, in which the largest ships can ride within 
one hundred yards of the land, and safe from the assaults of the 
hardest storms. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and 
other streams of less magnitude, fall into this bay; and all the 
regions drained by their waters belong to that section of country 
which nature seems to have destined to become a mighty nation, 
with the Bay of San Francisco for its chief harbor. Were these 
regions settled by an enterprising people, and their various ex- 
cellences turned to proper account, we should see, on the western 
shores of our continent, a country as powerful as any mentioned 
in history. 

The only place of consequence on this bay is Yerba Buena, a 
small American village, at which vessels effect repairs and obtain 
provisions. This place is probably the germ of the future city 
that is to be enriched by the immense commerce that must cen- 
tre here. Americans have commenced the work that they are, 
most likely, destined to complete, that of opening up to human 
enterprise one of the most wealthy districts of the earth, where 
universal humanity may find a home. 

Recent accounts from Yerba Buena represent that many of the 
Mormons were living there, in tents, while building their houses. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 149 

An advanced guard of these people, about 5000 in number, had 
arrived in the country. A much larger number were expected 
to join them, and they will form a powerful settlement, should no 
internal feuds arise to break them up. 

The animal kingdom of Upper California is varied, rich, and 
extensive. There are many species of quadrupeds, which I have 
not space to enumerate. Domestic animals are plenty. Game 
is found in such variety, and of such excellence, as to make 
Northern California the very Elysian Fields of sportsmen. The 
ornithology of California is exceedingly rich, and adds much to 
the general desirableness of the country. The waters, whether 
of lake, river, or the ocean, are well filled with fish. They are 
not so much used in Upper California, as in Lower, the former 
producing, so much more bountifully than the latter, other ar^- 
ticles of food. Immense numbers of salmon are taken, many of 
them of great size, and all of superb quality. Salmon trout are 
also numerous in some rivers. Large sturgeons are sometimes 
caught. Near Monterey, mackerel are taken easily, and in large 
numbers. 

The whites and half-breeds in Upper California are about 
6000 in number. The Indians reach to 40,000. It is diffi- 
cult to say which is the most contemptible race, Indians, half- 
breeds, or whites ; but I think the latter. 

In minerals, California is very rich, the bosom of the earth 
being filled with undeveloped wealth. There are beds of coal in 
various quarters ; and in the vicinity of San Francisco some of a 
bituminous character, and very good, have been discovered. Gold 
and silver mines exist, some of which are well known, very rich, 
and easily worked. A most valuable mine of quicksilver is also 
reported to be in the mountains east of Monterey. 

Were I about to leave my native country, there is no place 
that I would sooner select for my new home than Northern Cali- 
fornia. The human race has done little for it, while nature has 
lavished upon it her most bounteous gifts. Rich in natural pro- 
ductions, with a grateful soil, and the most magnificent harbors 
in the world, and needing only human exertions to rise to the 
highest pitch of power and renown, we might be justified in ap- 
plying to it the words of the poet, respecting another fair region, 
and declare that 

" All save the spirit of man is divine ! " 

Having devoted a few pages to a description of California, I 
will now resume the story of my adventures. As soon as the let- 



156 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

ter from Thomas reached me, at the ranche of Mr. Buzzell, I 
started for Yerba Buena. T found the bark Fame, Captain 
Mitchell, from Connecticut^ at Sousaleta, a small place on the 
opposite side of the bay from Yerba Buena. Captain Mitchell, 
in the spirit of that generosity which is so common among sea- 
men, kindly offered to take Thomas and myself, free of expense, 
to Valparaiso, whither he was bound. We sailed the first day 
of November, having spent five months in California. On the 
29th of January, 1846, we arrived at Valparaiso. The incidents 
of the voyage I have not space to detail, and must content my- 
self with expressing, in this public manner, my heartfelt thanks 
to Captain Mitchell, for the extreme kindness with which he 
invariably treated us, while we were on board his vessel. May 
the blessing of Heaven reward him for his benevolent deeds. 

I remained at Valparaiso until the 5th day of April, when, 
having secured a passage on board the ship Edward Everett, 
Captain Sweetlin, bound for Boston, I commenced my home- 
ward voyage. The Edward Everett was a beautiful ship, of be- 
tween seven and eight hundred tons, deeply laden with copper 
ore, hides, and other products of Chili. The first twenty-four 
hours spent on board satisfied me that Captain Sweetlin was 
both a gentleman and a sailor; and, as the saying goes, " a good 
captain makes a good crew," so T found the sailors well satisfied 
both with the captain and the ship. 

We passed the Island of Juan Fernandez, with a strong breeze, 
and went dashing to the southward along the land. Long after 
the shore had been lost to the view, the ridges of the lofty Andes 
were seen above the clouds, with their rugged outlines defined 
along the sky. Every day became shorter, the weather colder, 
and the sea more boisterous and broken, as we advanced on our 
course. It was winter, and, as we approached Cape Horn, the 
royalmasts and yards were sent down, new canvass was bent, and 
every thing secured to meet the storms which rage at that season 
of the year. The wind still favored us, but became squally, oc- 
casionally accompanied with violent hailstorms. 

When off the pitch of the Cape, I saw a mountain of ice, 
about seven miles to the southward of us. It was apparently be- 
tween three and four hundred feet high, and of a rugged coni- 
cal form, with a base that extended several miles in circumfer- 
ence ; its apex was white as snow, but, about half-way down, it 
was shaded by the reflection of dark and heavy clouds, that 
formed a girdle about the horizon. Around its base, the long- 
rollinor seas broke in ceaseless roar, towerintr aloft in whitened 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D, HF.USTIS. I5T 

foam, higher than our ship's mast-heads. We were scudding at 
the time before a westerly gale, under a close-reefed maintopsail, 
and, as evening advanced, the iceberg was soon lost in the dark- 
ness of night. 

The Cape doubled, we hauled to the northward, passing Staten 
Island, and the Falkland Islands, the weather beconung milder 
every day, and the sun shining clearer and longer. Nothing worthy 
of note occurred until we crossed the equator, a few days after 
which we spoke the ship Courier, from Rio Janeiro, bound to 
New York. As we were very deeply laden, and she a very fast 
sailer, she soon left us out of sight astern, and, I believe, arrived 
in New York a fortnight before we reached Boston. We also 
spoke a Danish ship, and, learning that her captain was sick, we 
sent a boat to board her, with medicines, and other articles, of 
which she was in need. 

When in the latitude of Bermuda, we were struck by a whirl- 
wind, when under all sail, upon a wind, which in an instant 
snapped the cross-jack yard in two, in the slings, blew away the 
mizen topsail, mainsail, and the topgallant sails, fore and aft. It 
gave no warning of its approach, but burst upon us with a noise 
as loud as the report of a cannon, and, whirling along, passed to 
leeward, tearing the sea up in its erratic course. A new cross- 
jack yard was fitted, and sent aloft; other sails were bent, and 
once more we quietly dodged along for our port of destination. 
We passed through the South Channel, and saw hundreds of 
coasters standing north and south. We expected to make Cape 
Cod the next day, and, as I wished to have a look at my native 
land as early as possible, I went on deck at daylight, while the 
stars were yet twinkling in mellow brightness, and found the 
ship gliding along slowly before the wind, having every stitch of 
sail set to receive the passing breeze. A man was aloft, on the 
main royal yard, and, in answer to a question put by the officer 
of the deck, he replied, " Yes, sir, I can see two lights plainly, 
about a couple of points before the larboard beam." " That will 
do," said the mate, " come down;" and then, turning to me, he 
passed the compliments of the morning, and remarked that the 
Cape Cod lights were in sight, and, if the breeze but freshened 
a little, and continued fair, we might expect to be in Boston that 
night. Though far from being constitutionally nervous, I must 
confess that this intimation made me almost crazy with delight. 
I rambled about the deck, musing on the anticipated pleasures 
of greeting once more my kindred and friends, and treading the 
free soil of old Massachusetts. The sun rose from a hazy bed, 



152 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

shorn of his beams, and, like a cheerless sluggard, toiled through 
the morning mist, in his ceaseless course. This was hailed by 
the mate as a favorable omen for the continuance of an easterly 
breeze; and, sure enough, before eight o'clock, we were spank- 
ing along most gloriously, at the rate of seven miles an hour. 

The Cape was doubled, and old Massachusetts Bay opened to 
receive us. Onward the noble ship pressed, and every hour some 
well-known place rose to view. About noon, Boston Light was 
in sight from the mast-head, and a pilot-boat was seen stretching 
across our bows. It was the Hornet ; and, the wind having lulled 
into a very quiet breeze, a pilot sheered alongside in a canoe, and 
came on board, without our shortening sail. " How do you 
flourish. Captain Hunt, and what's the news?" was the first sal- 
utation of our captain. "Why," replied the pilot, "you see me 
just the same as when you went away, only a little older, and, 
excepting an infernal noise which the newspapers are kicking 
up about the Oregon Territory, there is no news worth repeating." 
" What, do you expect war about it?" asked our captain. "No," 
replied Captain Hunt, " it will all end in smoke ; the papers 
must have some goose to pluck, and, by the time they have 
plucked Oregon bare, and singed it like a Thanksgiving turkey, 
they will pounce upon something else." The conversation was 
continued, on various subjects, as the tv/o captains walked fore 
and aft on the quarter-deck. I was much pleased with the man- 
ly appearance of Captain Hunt, and the plain straight-forward- 
ness of his conversation. I learn that he stands at the head of 
his profession, and has several times displayed great presence of 
mind in the midst of danger. ^ 

We passed the Ligfit, Boston was full in sight, and the glo- 
rious sun, from a cloudless sky, was gilding her numerous spires 
with his departing beams. The State House, Bunker-Hill Mon- 
ument, and many other well-known landmarks, stood out from 
the common mass of buildings which formed the magnificent 
panorama before us. The sun went down, and yet we were not 
up; but the wind, though light, was fair, and still there was 
hope that we should arrive before the tide turned. Slowly and 
silently we moved along, and finally anchored off the end of Lewis's 
Wharf, about nine o'clock in the evening, on the 25th of June, 
after a passage of eighty days. Thus, having circumnavigated 
the globe, I was once more at home ! 

Very soon after landing I was ushered into the presence of my 
mother, brothers, and sister, whom I found in the enjoyment of 
health and prosperity. It was just nine years, to a day, since I 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. IIEUSTIS. 153 

had seen them. The feelings inspired by that meeting it is use- 
less for me to attempt to describe. With hearts so full of joy as 
almost to choke their words, they bade me welcome to home and 
liberty. Like the shepherd, who rejoiced more over the lost 
sheep, when found, than he did over the ninety and nine that had 
not been astray, my aged mother seemed to manifest toward me 
a double share of that affection which mothers alone can feel. 
She was saying, at the dinner-table, that very day, that if she 
could only see me, and her brother, whom she had not seen for 
forty years, she should feel satisfied. At four o'clock in the af- 
ternoon the brother arrived in the cars, and, at nine o'clock, her 
wish was fully gratified by my appearance. In the language 
of the just and devout Simeon, she seemed ready to exclaim, 
" Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according 
to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." 

Thomas, my companion in California, sailed from Valparaiso 
a few days before me, in the Chilian bark Almendralina, Captain 
Brown, bound for New York, where she arrived about the 15th 
of June. 

After spending a few days with my friends in Boston, I went 
to Jefferson county. New York, where I was received by ray old 
associates and friends in a very kind and cordial manner. At 
Watertown, they fired cannon and calfed out a band of music, to 
manifest their joy at my return. I also visited the battle-field at 
Prescott, and viewed the scene of that desperate fight in which 
I had been taken prisoner. Time had worked some changes in 
the appearance of the place, but the recollections of the past 
were still fresh in my mind, and I will leave the reader to imagine 
the feelings with which I trod again that field of deadly strife. 



ecf-'T.r- 154 



CHAPTER XV. 

The English Criminal Code — Establishment of Penal Colonies — 
Settlement of Van Dieman's Land — Description of the Coun^ 
try — Extermination of the Natives — Cruelty of Sir George 
Arthur — Ruthless Policy of England — Chartists in Exile — 
Interesting Letter from the Honorable Edward Everett. 

The cruelty of the English criminal code has long been pro- 
verbial throughout the world, as has the tenacity with which she 
has clung to laws enacted in what were emphatically the "dark 
ages," so far as human rights and human feelings are concerned. 
Not only were her state trials " unclean shambles," but all her 
courts were courts of death, the loss of life being incurred for 
numerous offences that are now, in nearly all countries, left 
to the correction of either a mild discipline, or to public opinion. 

The establishment of penal colonies, to meet as well the in- 
crease of crime consequent on such rigidity of the law as the de- 
mand of slowly-advancing civilization for its melioration, has had 
some effect in the way of checking the brutalizing tendency of 
the British code ; and, in so far, these colonies are perhaps to be 
looked upon, if not with respect, at least with a spirit approach- 
ing to that of kindness. But it is only by comparison that the 
mind is led to this conclusion ; and some conception of what the 
English code was, and measurably is, may be arrived at, when 
even these wretched colonies, and the odious system of transpor- 
tation, are, by comparison, favorably regarded as improvements ! 
Upon what must be the political effect of the system, in throw- 
ing a population of a peculiar character into the southern hemis- 
phere, the members of which must become the progenitors of the 
founders of a mighty empire of *' Anglo-Saxons," a curious and 
instructive chapter might be written. I must leave it, however, 
to other hands. 

The Island of Van Dieman's Land, though discovered more 
than two centuries ago, by the Dutch, had no settlement on it 
prior to 1803, in which year a penal settlement was formed by 
the English, near the mouth of the Derwent. This settlement 
was the result of accident, rather than cf design ; but, the next 



ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HEUSTIS. 155 

year, a colony of Botany Bay convicts was formed at what is now 
Hobart Town. It was a strictly penal settlement. As the pop- 
ulation increased, and the capabilities of the country became 
known, the value of land increased, and a sort of speculation was 
the result. Then came reaction, and " hard times," with insol- 
vency and ruin. The present population is about 90,000, of 
which number something more than one third are free emigrants, 
and the remainder either emancipated convicts, or those still un- 
der sentence. Though there are good people on the Island, as 
there are every where — there was one righteous man even in 
Sodom — their number is not large. The vice of intemperance 
is terribly prevalent. 

What tends to keep down a better state of morals, is the con- 
tempt in which labor is held. The laboring class is mainly com- 
posed of convicts, and as it is the inevitable tendency of things to 
degrade all laborers to the condition of the lowest and worst of 
their number, the working-men of the Island sink to the level of 
the convicts, in public estimation, if not in fact, rather than ele- 
vate the convicts to the condition from which themselves start. 
Levelling upward is a difficult task ; levelling downward, a 
very easy one. As, in the midst of slavery, all laborers, how- 
ever politically free they may be, are looked upon as being part 
and parcel of a servile race, by the influential classes, because 
pursuing employments appropriated mainly to slaves; so, in a 
country where servitude is the punishment of crime, will the in- 
dustrial classes find themselves degraded to the level of crim- 
inals. 

There are churches, schools, and newspapers, in this colony. 
Some literary and scientific institutions are in operation. A lu- 
natic asylum has been established, and I should think it might 
be well filled, considering the effect of oppression and cruelty in 
driving people mad. 

The climate of the Island is good, and nature has done much 
for it. Health generally prevails. The soil in the valleys is 
good, but fit for nothing but pasturage on the high grounds, and 
not even for that in the dry season. The proportion of really 
good land to that of the bad and indifferent, is as one to four; 
but the former produces, abundantly, almost all the necessaries 
and some of the luxuries of life. Fruits common to mild cli- 
mates are abundant; as are wheat, potatoes, oats, barley, &c. 
There are large flocks of sheep on the Island, and the exporta- 
tion of their wool to England is a very important item in the 
trade of the Colony. Cattle and horses have more attention paid 



156 CAPTIVITY AND ADVPINTURES OF 

to their improvement than men receive. The wild animals are 
the opossum, the kangaroo, the badger, &c. ; and among the 
birds are the eagle, the emu, the swan, parrots, and cockatoos. 

Of the natural features of the country I must speak with brev- 
ity. The Island is crossed by two ranges of mountains, which 
are called the Eastern and Western Ranges. Mount Wellington, 
which is but three miles from Hobart Town, is the highest point, 
ascending to more than three quarters of a mile, and being cov- 
ered with snow most of the year. On its summit there is a lake, 
from which the town is supplied with fresh water, which is car- 
ried by an aqueduct. When the lake overflows, the waters find 
their way down a cataract, having a fall of more than 200 feet. 
The principal rivers are the Tamar and the Derwent, the pleas- 
ant names of which must often raise sighs in the bosoms of the 
exiles, reminding them, as they cannot fail to do, of the old 
country, and of their 

" childhood's innocent day, 

And the dear fields and friendships far away." 

The Derwent is navigable for upward of twenty miles from its 
mouth by large vessels. The other rivers are small. The Ta- 
mar is formed by an union of several small streams, and falls into 
the sea on the northern shore. There are numerous small lakes 
in the interior. The trees are abundant. Among them are the 
cedar, the oak, the pine, myrtle, cherry, peppermint, and several 
descriptions of the gum tree. These last grow to a great size, 
and their gum is used for food by the natives. 

The aborigines of Van Dieman's Land rank very low in the 
scale of humanity. It would, I think, be hard to find a more de- 
graded race. They are black, with hair much resembling that 
of the negro, and their whole appearance is the reverse of attrac- 
tive. They are cannibals, and were in the habit of devouring 
the prisoners made in their wars. But, however degraded they 
are, the fact furnishes no excuse for the ferocious treatment they 
experienced at the hands of the English, by whom they have 
been almost exterminated. Having been encroached upon, they 
retaliated upon their oppressors. Then a war of extermination 
was commenced upon them. The Governor placed a bounty on 
their scalps, as British officials on this continent have repeatedly 
done on American scalps; and a mongrel army, composed of 
regular soldiers, emigrants, and convicts, was sent against them. 
The contest was marked by all that cruelty, vindictiveness, and 
treachery, which enter so largely into the British military sys- 
tem ; and in a few weeks, several thousands of the natives were 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 157 

murdered, without distinction of sex or age ; the old man and 
the infant, the hardy male and the helpless woman, falling alike 
before that potent instrument of civilization, the British bayonet. 
Their bodies were left to rot on the soil they claimed as their 
own, and which they had sought to defend, the only crime for 
which they were so severely punished. And who was the leader 
in this most glorious enterprise of ivar 1 Who was the chief, un- 
der whose direction was thus woven another blood-stained gar- 
land, to be worn as a wreath by Britannia? By whom was this 
addition made to the brilliancy of the ** meteor flag " of England? 
Why, by the same man whose atrocious deeds in Canada have 
made his name an archetype for all that is cruel and base — by 
Sir George Arthur himself, who was sent, reeking with the blood 
of savages, with whom he had broken faith, to pour out the blood 
of civilized men with equal profuseness, and to prove equally 
faithless in his engagements with them. As a reward for his 
base subserviency to inhuman power, he has been made Gover- 
nor of Bombay, a portion of Britain's vast Indian empire. There 
he will give new proofs, in due time, of the ferocity of his nature, 
and of his indifference to his word. His course round the globe 
is marked with the blood of the victims of his rapacity, his am- 
bition, and his faithlessness. When the time shall come for him 
to appear and receive judgment, before that tribunal to which 
all things are known, from what different regions will his accusing 
victims go up ! From the banks of the St. Lawrence and 
those of the Derwent — from the forests of Canada and the jungles 
of India — will ascend those who will bear witness against this 
British proconsul, and demand of a just God that his vengeance 
be not spared from so barbarous a tyrant. The savage of Austra- 
lia, the citizen of America, and the exiled Pole, will join their 
voices in that cry. Who, in that hour, would not rather be the 
meanest of his victims, than the " bold, bad man " himself! May 
we not hope, too, that the punishment due to crimes so great, 
shall not be altogether postponed until another life ? Is it too 
much to ask that his fate, like that of other monsters in human 
form, shall serve to " point a moral," and afford another proof 
that mercy and justice and wisdom are the same? Shall not 
" mischief haunt the violent man"? 

Misery and death are said to be the greatest of levellers ; but 
I doubt if they are more remarkable for equalizing men's condi- 
tion than is the transportation system of Great Britain. It was 
born of her bloody code, and is the motley child of a system that 
meted out the same punishment to the woman who stole five 



158 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

shillings, to keep herself and child from starving,* that it did to 
the perpetrator of the most foul, malicious, and unnatural mur- 
der. The man whose breach of trust has carried woe to hun- 
dreds; the poacher, who has exercised merely a natural right for- 
bidden by law; the pickpocket, who was trained to crime from his 
cradle, if cradle he ever knew ; and the seeker after political or 
social reform, who has stepped a little beyond the line permitted 
by that anomalous concern, the British Constitution ; — all these 
can meet, and have met, on the same level, in one of England's 
penal colonies. England has always pursued this course, and her 
action toward those who have excited either her hatred or fears, 
or both, has been as unjust as fortune, relentless as time, cruel 
as the grave. She has been impartial in her manifestation of 
power, in this regard ; and, reversing the Roman practice, 
which spared the humble while it prostrated the proud, she has 
placed her feet on the necks of kings, and trampled on peasants ; 
her vengeance being like the avarice of a miser, which disdains 
nothing. Mary, dueen of Scots, was first imprisoned, and then 
butchered, by the English, in violation alike of national faith, 
chivalrous usage, and the rules of law; and, in our own day, the 
French Emperor — the mighty Napoleon himself, "the foremost 
man of all this world" — having thrown himself upon the magna- 
nimity of England, was only regarded by her as a superior kind 
of convict, sent to one of her most unhealthy islets, inhumanly 
treated, and, if not literally "done to death by felon's hand," at 
least persecuted in a way that put a speedy end to the greatest 
life that the world has seen since Caesar. Ruthless is England's 
policy ; hard is her treatment of all ; and terribly fearful will 



*This is no exaggeration, but literal truth. The following is a well-authentica- 
ted story, and, though it may seem incredible, there is no doubt of its truth. One 
Jones, a sailor, was seized by a pressgang, in London, and sent on board a king's 
ship, his family being left in a state of destitution. His wife, who had an infant a 
few months old, stole a piece of linen, of the value of four or live shillings, from a 
draper's shop, intending to sell it, and with the proceeds to purchase food to save 
herself and child from starvation. She was arrested, tried, condemned, and exe 
cuted. The peculiarity of her case caused intercession to be made in her behalf, 
but the king was induced not to exercise the " twice blessed quality of mercy," 
by the representations of certain traders, who stoutly contended that she should be 
made an example of, because there had been several cases of shoplifting about the 
same time, in the region that was the scene of her offence. The worst remains 
to be told. When the unhappy woman was placed in ike cart, to be carried to 
Tyburn, she had her child in ner arms, and it was allowed to nurse until she was 
called to mount the scaffold ; and when it was taken from the breast, the mother's 
milk fell, drop by drop, upon the child's lips ! To my mind, there is something 
more shocking in this solitary judicial murder, than in the accumulated horrors of 
the Bartholomew massacre. 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D, IIEUSTIS. 159 

be her punishment, when her long-accumulated arrears for of- 
fences against God and man shall arrive. The day on which her 
accounts shall be settled, will be an awful one, and will forever 
after excite among the nations thoughts as terrible as we now 
associate with the story of the destruction of the Cities of the 
Plain. 

Reflections like those contained in the last paragraph, arose 
in my mind, after forming an acquaintance, at Van Dieman's 
Land, with Mr. Frost, one of the leading English Chartists. He 
and two others, named Williams and Jones, had been banished 
from home and all its endearments, and condemned to a life of 
unmitigated toil and suffering, because they were prominent 
members of the ultra radical party in the mother country. I 
found Mr. Frost to be a man possessed of fine mental powers, a 
pleasing address, and strong attachment to liberal political prin- 
ciples. The Chartists embrace the masses, who have no real 
power in England, save in times of great popular excitement, like 
those which shook the British empire at the time of the agitation 
0f the question of Parliamentary Reform, some sixteen years ago, 
ivhen " the pressure from without " forced the aristocracy to give 
up a portion of their privileges. They seek for more thorough 
changes than any other party in England dare avow, such as 
universal suffrage, annual elections of parliament, &lc., &c., and 
they take their name of Chartists from their desire to have their 
principles set forth in a regular Charter, or instrument of gov- 
ernment, like our Constitution: the British Constitution being 
nothing but laws, usages, and customs, which the tories call *' the 
|accumulated wisdom of ages," but which most people, out of the 
Iconservative party, consider a mass of undigested and indigesti- 
ble absurdities and contradictions, allowing the fullest latitude 
for the practice of misgovernment. In seeking to carry out his 
principles, Mr. Frost gave offence to the ruling powers, and the 
result was his banishment to Van Dieman's Land, where he was 
confounded with the worst of criminals, and subjected to every 
kind of abuse. He was driven on the carts till his strength was 
completely exhausted, and because he could not do all that his 
taskmasters required of him, he was sentenced to fourteen days 
solitary confinement ; and, when that sentence had expired, he 
was again harnessed to the carts, and driven till again exhausted, 
when another term in the dark and gloomy cell, with bread and 
water to live on, was awarded him ! Such is the justice of Eng- 
land: but the day will come when the world will think him a far 
better man than the best of his persecutors, and rank him among 



160 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

those who sought the good of all mankind ; and it is a confident 
reliance on the advent of that time, that enables him to bear vrith 
a high heart his unjust exile. 

Of the prisoners taken at the battles of Prescott, Windsor, and 
the Short Hills, ninety-one were transported to Van Dieman's 
Land. Of these, eleven died in the Colony, and one on the out- 
ward passage. Benjamin Wait, Samuel Chandler, and James 
Gemmell, made their escape from the Island, in 1842, on board 
of whale-ships, and reached home in safety. Aaron Dresser and 
Stephen S. Wright were pardoned, in June, 1843, for capturing 
bush-rangers. Fifty-eight v/ere pardoned by the British govern- 
ment, on application of Mr. Everett, American Minister at Lon- 
don, as will appear by his letter, at the conclusion of this chap- 
ter ; but, as one of them had previously been liberated by the 
hand of death, and is counted among the deceased, the number 
actually released was fifty-seven. Others may have been par- 
doned since Mr. Everett left England, but I have no information 
to that effect. If there has been no addition to the number lib- 
erated, seventeen now remain in captivity. Of those emanci- 
pated, Linus W. Miller states that there were sixteen in the Col- 
ony when he left, in September, 1845. They had not the means 
of procuring passages home. Forty-three had succeeded in get- 
ting away, nearly all of them in whale-ships, with a long voyage 
to make before they could return to America. 

With a view of obtaining information in regard to the steps 
taken to procure our pardon, I addressed a letter to the Honora- 
ble Edward Everett, now President of Harvard University, and 
formerly American Minister at the Court of St. James. On 
the following day I received a very friendly note from Mr. Ev- 
erett, acknowledging the reception of my letter, and assuring me 
that, as soon as his other engagements would permit, he would 
cheerfully comply with my request, and furnish me with the de- 
sired information. A few days afterward, I received the very 
interesting letter which is appended to this chapter, and which 
will be read with much satisfaction by the liberated captives and 
their friends. It was a fortunate circumstance for the exiles, 
that our country was represented, at the British court, by a man 
whose character and talents were such as to command the 
respect and admiration of those high functionaries with whom he 
was in constant diplomatic intercourse. Mr. Everett's letter is 
alike creditable to his head and his heart ; and while I honor 
him as a ripe scholar, an eloquent orator, and a profound states- 
man, I must still say that his friendly deeds of kindness to his 



CAPTAIN DANIEL D. HEUSTIS. 161 

unfortunate countrymen are more worthy of praise, and will 
secure for him a brighter wreath of fame, than the most suc- 
cessful of his literary and political labors. It is a coincidence 
worthy of remark, that the ship which bore me to my native land, 
was named in honor of the man who had been so prominently 
instrumental in procuring my pardon. 

The suggestion of Mr. Everett, that a fund should be placed 
at the disposal of our foreign ministers, to be uald in relieving 
distressed countrymen, is worthy of the serious attention of those 
who have the direction of our public affairs. The fact that 
American citizens are now in exile, unable to return to their na- 
tive country, is, of itself, sufficient to urge immediate action 
on this subject. In the name of humanity, I call upon our gov- 
ernment to assist those unfortunate men in returning to their 
home and friends. 

The following is the highly interesting letter of Mr. Everett, 
above alluded to: — 

Cambndge, 5th Dec, 1846. 

Dear Sir : I will now endeavor to comply with your request to be furnished 
with some account of the steps taken by me, to procure the liberation of the 
American citizens who were transported to Van Dieman's Land, for having taken 
part in the movement in Canada, in 1838. My official correspondence on this 
subject was quite voluminous, but the following is the substance, and will, I sup- 
pose, answer your purpose. 

Among the papers which I found awaiting me in London, on my arrival there, 
in November, 1841, were petitions for the release of one or two of the Americans 
in Van Dieman's Land, with private letters requesting me to interfere in their be- 
half. These documents were transmitted to me through the Department of State, 
but it was left wholly to my discretion what use I should make of them. The re- 
lations between the two countries, at that time, were not favorable to any move- 
ment for the release of the prisoners. I bore their case, however, constantly in 
mind, and occasionally mentioned it informally to Lord Aberdeen. While Lord 
Ashburton was at Washington, in 1842, our government requested his good offices 
in this matter j and, after the ratification of the treaty, some correspondence on 
the subject took place between Mr, Webster and Mr. Fox. Having noticed this 
correspondence in the American papers, 1 took occasion, early in December, to 
call the attention of the British Minister to the subject more particularly than I 
had felt authorized to do before ; and he assured me he was willing, whenever his 
government granted an amnesty to the Canadians implicated, that it should be ex- 
tended to the citizens of the United States. This seemed to me all that could be 
reasonably asked ; but a good deal of delay took place before the measure was de- 
cided on. 

In the mean time, Messrs. Wright and Dresser, two of the Americans concerned, 
had been pardoned, in consequence of some services rendered to the local magis- 
tracy. They called upon me, in London, on the 26th December, 1843, and I am 
glad to learn from you that they were pleased with their reception, and that they 
reached home in safety. 

In the month of January, 1844, information having reached our government that 
a general amnesty had been granted to the Canadians, I was directed to bring the 
case of our countrymen informally to the consideration of Lord Aberdeen. He 
told me that no such comprehensive measure had been adopted, but that the Gov- 
ernor-General had been clothed with a large discretion, to grant a pardon to all 



162 CAPTIVITY AND ADVENTURES OF 

such individuals as might, by themselves or through their friends, petition for it, 

Erovided there were no aggravating circumstances against them 5 and he renewed 
is promise that, as far as depended on him, the same course should be pursued 
toward American citizens. Lord Stanley, also, the Colonial Minister, gave me the 
same assurance. The application was to be for^-arded through the Department 
of State to the American Minister in London. 1 immediately presented the only 
application, in proper form, which was then in my hands. It was in favor of Mr. 
David Allen, and was promptly granted. I of course gave our government imme- 
diate intelligence of these events, and also wrote to the friends of some of the in- 
dividuals concerned, letting them know what was necessary to be done. 

As soon as the information could take effect in the United States, petitions be- 
gan to be forwarded to me by tlie Department in considerable numbers. Ten were 
received at once, in April, 1844, and seventeen in the month of May following. 
Your case was one of the seventeen. It was:,on the 31st of May that I wrote the 
letter to Mr. Hathaway, our Consul at JHdbart Town, of Avhich he spoke to you. 
In this letter, I gave him a list of those who had been pardoned, twenty-eight in 
number, in addition to Messrs. Wright and Dresser, and I informed him of the 
willingness of the British government to pardon all whose friends applied. Com- 
miserating the condition of those who might not have parents or other relations, 
to take an interest in their release, I requested Mr. Hathaway, " if he heard of any 
poor fellow that had no friends, to let me know his name, &;c., and I would en- 
deavor to get him pardoned." Mr. Hathaway's answer did not reach me till May, 
1845. It contained a list of a considerable number still in Van Dieman's Land, 
but I had already obtained the pardon of most of them. 

1 find by a dispatch of the 29th October, 1844, that forty-one in the whole had 
at that time been pardoned, and, on' subsequent applications, seventeen were ad- 
ded to the number. I send you a list of the whole, but 1 am inclined to think that 
one or two individuals are given tvvice, under names somewhat varied. 

I suggested to the Department the propriety of making some provision to aid 
those thus liberated, in their return, as there might be cases where, without such 
assistance, it would be impossible for them to get home. 1 was led to m^ke this 
suggestion by the difficulty experienced by Messrs. Wright and Dresser, although 
provided with a free Jf^age to London by the British colonial government. The 
Secretary of State decided, with great regret, that there was no appropriation from 
which such aid could be legally given. 

I was led on this as on some other occasions, to lament that no fund is placed 
at the disposal of our foreign ministers, for the relief of distressed countrymen, and 
no discretion allowed in the application of the contingent fund of the legation for 
that purpose. So far is this from being the case, that, having once expended 
£13.18.2 for the defence of an American seaman, on trial for his life, wliose friend 
less case had been represented to me by the chaplain of Newgate, that charge wat 
disallowed in the settlement of my accounts, since my return, althctogh I have 
reason to think my interference saved the man's life. 

In reference to an expression in the warrant for your pardon, that it took place 
" in consideration of some circumstances which had been humbly represented " to 
the Queen, you express your belief that some personal application may have been 
made by me in your favor. Such, however, is not the case. The words quoted 
by you are probably words of official form in all warrants for pardon. The usages 
of the British government would not permit a foreign minister, under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, to make a personal application to the Sovereign, on a matter of busi- 
ness; nor was there, in this case, any occasion for it. As soon as the ministry 
made up their minds to pardon the Canadians, every application which I made iii 
favor of an American was granted, as soon as it could pass through the forms of 
office. If there was any casual delay, 1 always found it easy to hasten a decision, 
by dropping a hint in the proper quarter. The most friendly disposition was man- 
ifested throughout by Lord Aberdeen and Lord Stanley. It was my practice, when 
an application was forwarded to me from the Department of State, to address a 
note to the Foreign Office, as soon as it could be prepared, frequently the same 
day. I think I can say that no American had a day added to his captivity, by my 
neglect. 



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L. C. Bindery 



